The history of Sandham Memorial Chapel

Stanley Spencer was born at Fernlea in Cookham, Berkshire and was the eighth surviving child of William and Anna Spencer. He was educated at home by his elder sisters Annie and Florence, showing great aptitude for music and art. 

Spencer's artistic talents came to the attention of Lord and Lady Boston, who arranged his continued education. After studying drawing at the Maidenhead Technical Institute, Spencer was accepted into the Slade School of Art at the age of 17, among a remarkable group of artists including Dora Carrington, CRW Nevinson, Mark Gertler, Paul Nash, Edward Wadsworth and David Bomberg, collectively described as the school’s ‘last Crisis of Brilliance’. Spencer graduated from the Slade in 1912.

Having been persuaded by his mother not to sign up for the army, Spencer joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was sent to the Beaufort Military Hospital, Bristol, as a medical orderly. Spencer endured long hours of hard work, demanding medical staff and the trauma of seeing so many dying and injured men. He found solace in his friendship with a local man, Desmond Chute, who introduced him to the writings of St Augustine’s 'Confessions' and the idea that hard work and service brought one closer to God. 

After almost a year in Bristol, Spencer volunteered for overseas service and was sent to Salonika on the borders of modern-day Greece and Bulgaria. He served as a stretcher bearer, mule tender and medical orderly in the field hospitals of the campaign. The heat of summer, freezing cold of winter and constant threat of malaria created hard conditions for all involved, yet Spencer fell in love with the country. 

While in Salonika, Spencer successfully applied to join the Royal Berkshire regiment and became a regular infantryman seeing active service at the front.

Sydney, Spencer's beloved elder brother, was killed in the last few months of the war. Spencer himself fell victim to malaria for the third time in 1918, spending the last month of the war in a field hospital. It was during this time that he resolved to one day build a chapel of his experiences ‘on Earth or in Heaven’. Shortly after his recovery, he was sent back to England and demobilised.

Spencer returned to his home and completed the painting Swan Upping which had remained incomplete during the war. He had difficulty returning to a life of art after seeing so much death and suffering but was commissioned by the government to produce a painting that reflected his war experiences. In 1919 Spencer painted Travoys with Wounded Soldiers Arriving at a Dressing-Station at Smol, Macedonia, which helped to draw a line under his wartime experiences. Spencer continued sketching ideas for a chapel filled with images from his time in war but did not expect to find funding. 

While visiting his friend Henry Lamb in Poole, Dorset, during the summer of 1923, Spencer met patrons of the arts, John Louis and Mary Behrend.

Mary’s late brother Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham had served in Salonika and the couple were moved by Spencer's sketches for a chapel.

Wanting a memorial for Sandham, and impressed by Spencer's plans, they agreed to fund a series of paintings for a specially constructed chapel in their home village of Burghclere, on a plot of land bought for this purpose from the Highclere Estate, better known today as the setting for television series Downton Abbey. 

The architect for the chapel was Lionel Pearson, who had designed the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner. Pearson worked from Spencer's sketches to create the design of the chapel.

Construction was affected by the general strike of 1926 and some of the bricks are softer and more brittle than they should be. Spencer began work on the paintings in late 1926. 

In the grounds, an orchard and meadow were created. Lime trees were planted to line the drive and native hedging planted around the garden, including hawthorn, berberis, dog rose and holly, which were originally sourced from the Carnarvon Estate, which the land was purchased from. 

The canvases of Scrubbing the Floors and Sorting Kitbags were completed in time for Spencer's first one-man show at the Goupil Gallery, London, in February 1927.

In March 1927 the chapel was consecrated by the Bishop of Guilford, 600 years to the day after Spencer's inspiration, the Scrovegni chapel by Giotto in Padua. In May of that year the Spencer family moved to Burghclere, staying initially at Palmer’s Hill Farm while the Behrends built Chapel View for them.

This year also saw the arrival of the first tenants in the almshouses, each of whom had responsibilities for the care of the chapel and grounds.

Spencer continued to work on the chapel paintings, the lower panels painted on an easel in the middle of the chapel and the three larger canvases painted in situ. 

The Spencer family moved into Chapel View, directly opposite the chapel across the railway line, and Mr Head, the builder, built scaffolding in the chapel for Spencer to start work on The Resurrection of the Soldiers.

The Behrends encouraged Spencer to take on other small commissions while he was completing the chapel paintings, to avoid damaging his career. 

The Spencer family moved out of Chapel View in early 1932 and Spencer completed the final canvas, Firebelt, in his new studio in Cookham. 

The Behrends purchased the meadow to the south of Harts Lane from the Highclere Estate. The meadow was gifted to the National Trust in 1963 to preserve the views of Watership Down from the chapel. 

In light of the increasing cost of maintenance, the Behrends approached the National Trust to take on the care and conservation of the chapel and paintings.

The Oratory was formally acquired by the Trust in January 1947, at some point after which it became known as Sandham Memorial Chapel. John Louis Behrend continued to oversee the running of the chapel as Chair of the Trust’s Local Committee until 1960. 

Sandham Memorial Chapel is the only National Trust place dedicated solely to the First World War and the only UK memorial to the Salonika campaign.

To mark the centenary of the First World War, a project was devised to rejuvenate Sandham. A new Garden of Reflection was planted at the rear of the Chapel, the former almshouses were renovated into exhibition spaces, important work took place to conserve and upgrade the building infrastructure and a new car park was created, securing the legacy of the Chapel for future generations.

While work took place in Burghclere, the paintings were exhibited in London, Chichester and Manchester.