PLYMOUTH, Devon – St Matthias. 

Reredos 1895

The Western Morning News of 6 March 1891 reported that

St. Matthias, Tavistock Road, Plymouth, is to have a new reredos.  The work is so far advanced that the erection will take place in about a fortnight’s time.  It is richly carved oak of fifteenth century style, and designed by Mr. Geo. H. Fellowes-Prynne, [sic] architect, of 10 Torrington-square, London, W.C.  It is being made in the studio of Mr. Harry Hems, at Exeter.

Then on 9 March 1891 the same paper carried the following letter:

SIR – I, too, was astounded to see by your issue of Friday last that another architect had been called in to design the reredos placed in St. Matthias’ Church… Artists, whether architects or painters, are a sensitive race, and to see their work completed by other hands must be felt as a direct insult by Messrs. Hine and  Odgers.  Surely the mind and hand that designed and carried out the magnificent pile of the Guildhall, and now later this church of St. Matthias, are capable of putting the crowning touch to the interior of the building…