A pair of lights (Joshua not illustrated) was erected in the north nave towards the east end of Christ Church, Melton. It was unveiled by Major-General Sir Edward Hutton, General commanding the Commonwealth Forces on 21 October 1904. He was an appropriate choice as Staughton had formerly been an ADC to Hutton, who commended 'his gallant service before the enemy'. When the Melton congregation moved to new premises, the majority of windows including St. Michael and Joshua were moved to St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Albury, and re-ordered by Kevin Little of Arncliffe Studios, Sydney, to suit a smaller opening, as illustrated.
Lieutenant Samuel Thomas Staughton, of the Bacchus Marsh detachment of A Company, Victorian Mounted Infantry, received his commission in January 1898 and sailed for South Africa on the Medic, 28 October 1899. The VMI served mainly in the northern Cape Colony notably at Pink Hill, where several lives were lost, and East Transvaal. In the battle at Gun Hill, Karee, Lieutenant Staughton, always conspiciously leading his men, dashed into the thick of the fighting to carry one of his men out, receiving several gunshots in the process, one of which wounded his hand; his DSO was gazetted in London on 19 April 1901. The unit returned to Australia on the 'Harlech Castle' on 4 December 1900. Later the same month, now promoted to Captain, he was honoured at a banquet in his home town of Melton, presided over by the mayor and other dignitaries, including his father, Mr. Staughton, MLA. He died of peritonitis in 1902.
References & Acknowledgements
Argus, 9 October 1900, p.5; Martin, 'An Historic Church', in The Church of England Messenger, Vol. XLIV, No.651, 29 August 1913, p.498; Starr, Melton: Plains of Promise, [1985], p.73; Sunbury News, 29 December 1900, p.2; 17 September 1904, p.1; 5 November 1904, p.2; http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Contingents.asp . Photograph: The Leader Souvenir (undated, unpaginated c.1900)
With thanks toAlice Coleman for her photographs of the window c1997
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