File:Saint Mary Magdalene, Ickleton, Cambridgshire. 1929 - 49034011536.jpg

English: Crucifixion with St. Mary Magdalene and St. Etheldreda by Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope.

AVE

Centre Light: The Crucifixion: on either side of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin and Saint John. On the ground is the spear with which our Lord’s side was pierced and the sponge on a reed with which the soldiers offered him vinegar to drink. The shield over the cross has on the emblem of the Trinity. At the extreme top of the light are three small circles. The centre one is the Chalice and Host. In the left hand circle is the seamless robe and in the right hand circle the dice with which the soldiers cast lots for the robe. In the circle underneath the Crucifixion is the Annunciation. The Angel Gabriel appearing to the Blessed Virgin with the message that she is chosen to be the mother of the Incarnate Son of God and her acceptance and answer, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is on the right of the circle. On a quarry above the circle are the letters “J.M.” Jesus, Mary. On the very small circle at the bottom of the light in the border is the word “AVE”, the first word of the Angel’s salutation.

The two stained glass artists named Margaret Rope were first cousins, granddaughters of George Rope of Grove Farm, Blaxhall, Suffolk (1814-1912) and his wife Anne (née Pope) (29/3/1821-1/10/1882). Neither married: both were baptised Anglicans but died Roman Catholics.

The younger Margaret was the 5th child of Arthur Mingay Rope (himself George and Anne's 5th child: 1850-1945) and Agnes Maud (née Aldrich: 1855-1943). She was born on 29th July 1891 and christened Margaret Edith at St Margaret's Church, Leiston, Suffolk on 25th August. She died in March 1988.

Born into a farming family at Leiston on the Suffolk coast, Margaret Edith Rope found herself among artistic relatives at Leiston and Blaxhall, Suffolk: her uncle, George Thomas Rope, landscape painter and Royal Academician; her aunt Ellen Mary, sculptor; sister Dorothy, also a sculptor. In the family, her nickname was "Tor", for tortoise. She was later to use a tortoise to sign some of her windows.

She was first educated by an aunt and later at Wimbledon High School, Chelsea School of Art and LCC Central School of Arts & Crafts (where she specialised in stained glass under Karl Parsons & Alfred J. Drury).