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Trena Mary Cox (1895–1980) was an English stained glass artist.

She was born Emma Trina Cox on 3 March 1895, in the Lower Bebington Urban District (i.e. not Bebbington), on the Wirral Peninsula and grew up around Birkenhead. She trained at the Laird School of Art. In 1924 she moved to Chester and set up her studio in Victoria Road Chester, Cheshire, either adjacent to, or within, the Kaleyard works of Williams, Gamon & Co., with whom she remained associated until the Second World War. In about 1945, Trena Cox moved to 96 Watergate Street, Chester, which remained her home and, at least later, her studio, until she retired in 1972 (at the age of 77) and died, on 11 February 1980 (not in 1977, as frequently quoted). Most of her works are in churches in the old counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. She was a fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. The authors of the Buildings of England series comment that "her windows are usually small, her figures modest, often with small-scale detail in the quarries" (small pieces of square or diamond-shaped glass set diagonally).

Until the publication of Jones (2012), there was very little coherent information available about the life of Trena Cox and errors in some earlier references, concerning, for example, the year of her death, have unfortunately been perpetuated by later authors.

Selected works

Notes

1. Cox's first known stained glass window is in the Chester College (now University) chapel and was installed in October 1924 (Minutes of the Joint Committee, Chester Training College, 15 October 1924). This window has Trena Cox's monogram on it, yet the window was contracted to Williams, Gamon & Co. (The Collegian, Vol 38, No 1, 1925).
2. Cox exhibited several times in the Walker Gallery Autumn Exhibitions in Liverpool. In the exhibition catalogue for the 1923 Autumn Exhibition, her home address is given as her parents' address in Birkenhead, as it also is for her 1924 exhibit at the Royal Academy in London. However, in the 1924 Walker Gallery Autumn Exhibition catalogue her address is given as being in Chester. Trena Cox moved to 96 Watergate Street at some time around the Second World War. During the years up to and including 1939, electoral registers confirm that she was living at other addresses in Chester. However, by the time of the first electoral register after the war, in May 1945, she had moved to 96 Watergate St. However, she apparently continued using the Victoria Road studio alongside or within the Williams, Gamon & Co. works during the war and until at least 1946, with evidence including, for example, the Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, 1939 (p. 94, p. 584), the Kelly's Chester Directory of 1940 (p. 112) and Chester Area telephone directories in January – February 1945 and March 1946. This suggests that she may not have used her new home as a studio immediately. By the time of the January 1947 telephone directory, however, the only telephone number for Trena Cox is at the Watergate Street address, suggesting a break from the Victoria Road studio.

References

Citations

1. ^ Jones 2012, pp. 11–14.
2. GRO 1980, Jan–Mar, Chester, v.35, p.0290
3. Architects and Artists C, Sussex Parish Churches, archived from the original on 5 March 2012, retrieved 9 December 2011
4. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 72.
5. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 277.
6. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 233.
7. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 234.
8. Saint Christopher, Yahoo!, 20 September 2008, retrieved 9 December 2011
9. Hartwell & Pevsner 2009, p. 687.
10. King Arthur & St George, Yahoo!, 6 June 2008, retrieved 9 December 2011
11. Crucifixion (1930) by Trena Cox, Yahoo!, 10 September 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
12. Detail of a Trena Cox stained glass window, Yahoo!, 10 September 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
13. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 158.
14. St Etheldreda, Yahoo!, 4 October 2008, retrieved 9 December 2011
15. Annunciation, Yahoo!, 14 March 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
16. St Christopher, Yahoo!, 14 March 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
17. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 199.
18. SS George, Werburgh, Bridget & Martin, Yahoo!, September 2006, retrieved 9 December 2011
19. Simeon with Jesus, Yahoo!, 14 March 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
20. Mary sitting at Jesus' feet, Yahoo!, 14 March 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
21. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 637.
22. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 244.
23. St Christopher, Yahoo!, 20 September 2008, retrieved 9 December 2011
24. The Good Shepherd, a stained glass window by Trena Cox, Yahoo!, 30 July 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
25. Detail of a Trena Cox stained glass window, Yahoo!, 30 July 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
26. A Nativity vignette, by Trena Cox, Yahoo!, 30 July 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
27. St Michael, Yahoo!, 24 August 2005, retrieved 9 December 2011
28. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 247.
29. Mary & the baby Jesus, Yahoo!, 10 September 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
30. Pollard & Pevsner 2006, p. 629.
31. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 130.
32. ^ Stained Glass Windows at Christ Church Crowton and St John's Norley, United Benefice of Norley, Crowton and Kingsley, retrieved 9 December 2011
33. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 152.
34. Adoration of the Magi, Yahoo!, 4 October 2008, retrieved 9 December 2011
35. Pollard & Pevsner 2006, pp. 656–657.
36. Christ in Glory as a Child, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
37. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 591.
38. St Christopher & St George, Yahoo!, 10 September 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
39. Hartwell & Pevsner 2009, p. 422.
40. St Michael & St George, Yahoo!, 21 July 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
41. Tracery of a Trena Cox window, Yahoo!, 21 July 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
42. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 510.
43. Scenes from the Birth of Christ, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
44. Scenes from the Early Life of Christ, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
45. Te Deum window, Yahoo!, 27 August 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
46. Cobb, Fr Peter, Stained Glass in the Shrine Church, Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, retrieved 9 December 2011
47. The vision of St John, Yahoo!, 27 August 2009, retrieved 9 December 2011
48. Newman & Pevsner 2006, p. 533.
49. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 325.
50. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 239.
51. King Ethelred & the White Hynde, Yahoo!, 9 April 2011, retrieved 9 December 2011
52. An Angel Greets the Three Women at the Empty Tomb, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
53. St Michael, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
54. Virgin and Child with St David, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
55. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 243.
56. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 359.
57. St. James the Great, Ince, Church of England, retrieved 9 December 2011
58. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 432.
59. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 490.
60. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 513.
61. St Elian, University of Wales, retrieved 9 December 2011
62. Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 684.

Sources

• Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) , Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) , Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
• Jones, Peter (2012), Trena Cox: Emergence of a stained glass artist, Historic Churches, vol. 19, Cathedral Communications Limited, pp. 11–14, ISBN 978-190091562-5
• Newman, John; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Shropshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-12083-4
• Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10910-5

• 1895 births
• 1980 deaths
• 20th-century English women artists
• British stained glass artists and manufacturers
• People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral