WW1 veteran’s daughter views her father’s needlework at St Paul’s

A woman whose father helped create a stunning altar frontal at St Paul's has visited the Cathedral to see his skilled handiwork.

Sergeant George Henry Brammer of the 1st Battalion, The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, worked on an altar frontal for St Paul’s Cathedral which was first used in July 1919 at the national thanksgiving service in the presence of the King and Queen. 

Disabled servicemen learned embroidery as part of their rehabilitation at the end of the Great War and the resulting altar frontal is on display at St Paul’s as part of the Cathedral’s commemoration of the centenary of that terrible conflict. 

George’s daughter, Ida Spencer, visited St Paul’s on Friday 18 September to see her father’s contribution. At the age of 89, she travelled from Burnley in Lancashire to stay with her granddaughter Emma and the Cathedral was delighted to welcome them and show them this beautiful piece of art from war which has impressed hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world since it went on display on 4 August 2014 – the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. 

Mrs Spencer also met some of the Cathedral’s Broderers who painstakingly restored the frontal over several months in 2014 in preparation for its display to the public. 

You can read more about George Brammer and the many other men who contributed to the embroidering of the frontal on our dedicated website pages. 

And, of course, you can come and see it for yourself any time between now and 2018.