This window depicts St Andrew and in the panel below Christ calling Andrew and Simon Peter (Matthew Chapter 4 and Mark Chapter 1). This is the newest window in the church. It was dedicated on May 13th, 1990 in memory of Lieutenant-General Sir George Gordon Lennox. The window was designed by Crear Macartney.
The Inscription at the bottom reads:
In Memory of Lt-General Sir George Gordon Lennox, Grenadier Guards and Colonel Gordon Highlanders, born 29th May 1908 died 11th May 1988
George Charles Gordon Lennox was born in London on May 29th, 1908, the elder son of Lord Bernard Gordon Lennox and his wife, Evelyn (the daughter of the 1st Baron Loch). He was educated at Eton (during which time he also served as a Page of Honour to King George V) and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1928.
He served in the first campaign in France with the British Expeditionary Force and was evacuated, like countless others, in a rowing boat from Dunkirk. In 1943, whilst commanding the 5th Battalion the Grenadier Guards in North Africa, he was awarded the DSO. Perhaps Geordie Gordon Lennox’s finest hour came the following year when, at Anzio, despite being wounded in the leg, he carried on directing the battle though lying on a stretcher in the open, a radio set at his side. This action ensured that the Grenadiers (although outnumbered) frustrated the enemy’s objective of cutting the Allies’ supply line down the main road from Anzio to Carroceto.
He served on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief in the Far East, Lord Louis Mountbatten at the end of the War against Japan. He subsequently commanded the 1st Guards Brigade in Egypt and the 3rd Division before being appointed Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 1959. He then became Director General of Army Military Training between 1963 and 1964.
He was appointed as GOC-in-C Scottish Command between 1964 and 1966. It was an appropriate culmination to a distinguished military career for, by 1952, he had acquired Gordon Castle and the surrounding estate thus continuing the Gordon Lennox family’s connection with Fochabers. In 1965, he was appointed Colonel of the Gordon Highlanders, the regiment founded by his ancestor, the 5th Duke of Gordon.
He was knighted (KBE) in 1964, having previously been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1959 and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1952. Sir George also served as King of Arms of the Order of the British Empire from 1968 until his death.
Sir George died on May 11th, 1988. His funeral service took place in Gordon Chapel where he had been a regular worshipper. He was commemorated at a Memorial Service in the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London on Tuesday, July 5th, 1988 at which Canon William Lunn, lately the Rector of Gordon Chapel, assisted. H.M. the Queen was represented at the service by the Viscount De L’Isle, VC, KG (who had won his VC in Italy in General Gordon Lennox’s battalion).
Sir George had married on July 16th, 1931, Nancy Brenda, younger daughter of Sir Lionel Darell, 6th Baronet. Lady Gordon Lennox died in 1993. They had two sons, Bernard and David, both of whom served in the Grenadiers.
In the obituary in The Times for Sir George, a fellow officer wrote of him:
“Geordie Gordon Lennox was above all else a devoted Guardsman and Grenadier. He was an outstanding soldier with an unerring sense of what did and did not work on the battlefield and with the born commander’s rapid and accurate eye for tactical possibilities.
Fearless and energetic, he both taught and inspired all whom he led.
With the Grenadiers in North Africa and Italy he was recognized as an impeccable battalion commander, thorough, ingenious, careful of his soldiers’ lives and spirits, professionally a master.
A man of complete integrity and unshakeable moral courage, he would never accept an unsound plan or a foolish order, and, since he was as clear-headed as he was strong-minded, he was impossible to talk round or to face down.
He brought the same qualities to his roles after the war.
To a rare degree he would delegate, trust, abstain from interference and subsequently shoulder all responsibility himself if errors had occurred.
Of striking good looks and a figure of unchanging youthfulness, he appeared generally formidable, and had a steady, penetrating gaze. But this impact was tempered by considerable humour and kindness of heart.”
