Subject

LH St. Andrew RH Patrick

Text

n/a

Inscription

AMDG In memory of Noel Beresford Foster Rutledge Killed in action Flanders 3rd June 1917

Description & History

When Mrs. Rutledge approached stained glass artist William Montgomery (1850-1927) to design a window in memory of her son her preferred subjects were St. Michael and Sir Galahad, however the Headmaster, Reverend Dr FE Brown, had already devised a scheme dedicated to 'All Saints', as the name of the chapel indicated, and he believed that legendary figures had no place, despite their valourous qualities. Sir Galahad was used subsequently as the subject of a window in the vestry.

Noel Beresford Forster Rutledge was born in 1886. At the time of his enlistment on 25 January 1915, Rutledge was 29 years old, and a grazier in the Mansfield Delatite district. Only one month later on 25 February 1915, he embarked at Melbourne on HMAT Star of Victoria with 8 Light Horse Regiment. Landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula in May 1925, he contracted influenza (and probably sand fly fever) in early August before he was evacuated to Malta and then to England. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in August 1916 and transferred to 3 Division Australian Field Artillery and promoted to Lieutenant in March 1917. Lieutenant Rutledge was killed in action in France on 3 June 1917, and was buried at Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegstreert Wood, Belgium.

References & Acknowledgements

AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B2455, Rutledge Noel Beresford Foster (sic); Affleck, Geelong Grammarians in the Great War, (1999), p. 37. Montgomery Letterbook 1, pp. 757, 768, 775, 801, 815, National Gallery of Australia Research Collection, Canberra, ACT. Letter from Rev. F.E. Brown, 14 December 1917; Folio 157, Montgomery ledger, William Montgomery Collection MS15414, State Library of Victoria.