Elizabeth Metcalfe

Elizabeth was born on the 16th May 1819 and was the second of three children born to Robert and Martha Rutter. Her father, Robert Rutter, was baptised at St Michael’s, Malton on 15th September 1762. The son of William Rutter, he learnt his father’s trade and became a shoemaker. Robert married Martha Wilkinson (born c1789) at St Michael’s on the 23rd December 1816. The couple lived in The Market Place, Malton. Their children were William (1817), Elizabeth (1819) and Eliza (1823). Robert died, aged 82, in 1844 and was buried at St Leonard’s, Malton on the 3rd October. Martha moved to Norton, where she died a little over two years later and was buried, aged 66, on Christmas Day, 1846, also at St Leonard’s.

Elizabeth Rutter was 22 years old when she married William Metcalfe at St Michael’s on 26th October 1841. William was a corn merchant at the time. William was born 12th December 1817 and was the son of grocer James Metcalfe and his wife, Jane. Initially, William and Elizabeth lived in Low Street in the Parish of St Leonard’s. It was here that their seven children were born. All were baptised at St Leonard’s: Robert (1842), Eliza Jane (1843), Emily (1845), Lucy Mary (1846), Jessie (1847), Annie (1850), William Rutter (1856).

In the 1851 census, William is described as a corn merchant, seedsman and miller, employing seven millers. By 1861, the family had moved to Castlegate where the mill and William’s business (W Metcalfe & Sons) was based. They were a prosperous family and had a cook and a housemaid. Sometime during the 1880s, the family moved to Rockingham House on The Mount (now a care home). Unfortunately, Elizabeth died shortly afterwards on Monday, 21st January 1889 after a brief illness that had not been thought to be immediately life-threatening. She was buried in Malton Cemetery three days later. The account of the funeral, published in the Malton Gazette, gives a long list of mourners present and floral tributes given. The pallbearers were employees of W Metcalfe & Sons.

The window

The design of this window was inspired by the famous painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt known as ‘The Light of the World’. A luminous crowned Christ, carrying a lamp, knocks on a closed, handle-less door. Hunt’s inspiration comes from John’s Gospel: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ (John 8:12).

The closed door represents the mind and soul of man. It can only be opened from the inside when we choose to invite Christ into our lives. The painting which hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral has the following text written beneath it: ‘Behold! I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me.’ (Revelation 3:20)

Hunt painted three versions of this subject. The original version was painted between 1851 and 1854. A smaller, very similar version was completed in 1856. The most famous version, which hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral, is ‘life-sized’ and is significantly different. It was painted by Hunt late in life with the assistance of Edward Robert Hughes. It was completed in 1904 and went on a ‘World’ tour visiting Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia before being installed in St Paul’s in 1908.