This is the second window from the left in the south aisle of St David’s.  It is the only one of the four nave windows which is not from the workshop of Charles Eamer Kempe.

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According to Michael Smith’s history of the building of the church, Caröe had insisted that the windows of the aisles should only be in rich shades of brown and yellow.  This had caused a good deal of controversy in the early years, and Charles Kempe himself was not altogether convinced.  However, Caröe had his way – until the installation of the Lisle window in 1926.

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The window was designed and created by Hubert Blanchford of 5 Northernhay Place, Exeter.  Blanchford trained with Kempe in London, and set up his studio in Eastgate in 1908, moving to Northernhay Place some five years later.  He was still there in 1958, having been commissioned to provide stained glass windows for at least 50 churches and chapels between 1912 and 1948.  Most of his work is in Devon, with a few examples further afield in Cornwall, Somerset, Buckinghamshire and Norfolk.

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The two figures represent the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Elizabeth.  The features of the latter supposedly bear some resemblance to those of Elizabeth Lisle, to whom the window is dedicated.  In the tracery are scrolls bearing the names of the figures, and the inscription reads “To the glory of God, and in loving memory of Elizabeth Renell Lisle, wife of Alderman W R Lisle, who passed away September 28th, 1925”.

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Elizabeth’s husband was William Richard Lisle, a jeweller and watchmaker with premises at 179 Fore Street. When he died in 1938, he was buried with his wife in Higher Cemetery.  Hubert Blanchford was married to Elizabeth’s niece.

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The window was unveiled by Alderman John Stocker, city magistrate and Chairman of the Council’s Education Committee, on Sunday 19 September 1926.