Dr Thomas Stantial was priest of St John’s for 22 years, from 1884-1906, and oversaw its most intense period of growth. His children would go on to be important members of the congregation for some time to come.
These windows were made by Wailes and Strang of Newcastle, one of the largest workshops in England and founded in 1838. The parish magazine noted that they show Saints Peter and Andrew ‘as they represented the two-fold aspect of the priest’s life – St Peter, the maintenance of the Faith, St Andrew, the ministerial side’. St Peter holds the keys to heaven, which he was symbolically given by Christ; St Andrew points to a part of the cross on which he was crucified. Its distinctive ‘X’ shape is replicated in the Scottish saltire.
The windows are in the Gothic style, in which large monumental figures are framed by microarchitectural features of the Middle Ages, which had come to dominate stained glass design since the mid-19th century.
The paired window shows St Thomas and St Paul. St Thomas is perhaps a reference to Dr Stantial’s first name. He is shown with a spear, the instrument of his legendary death in India. St Paul, who is always depicted with the sword that killed him, is often shown with St Peter – together they are the symbolic founders of Christianity.