Trena Mary Cox (1895–1980) was an English stained glass artist.
She was born Emma Trina Cox on 3 March 1895, in the Lower Bebington Urban District (i.e. not Bebbington), on the Wirral Peninsula and grew up around Birkenhead. She trained at the Laird School of Art. In 1924 she moved to Chester and set up her studio in Victoria Road Chester, Cheshire, either adjacent to, or within, the Kaleyard works of Williams, Gamon & Co., with whom she remained associated until the Second World War.Cox's first known stained glass window is in the Chester College (now University) chapel and was installed in October 1924 (Minutes of the Joint Committee, Chester Training College, 15 October 1924). This window has Trena Cox's monogram on it, yet the window was contracted to Williams, Gamon & Co. (The Collegian, Vol 38, No 1, 1925). In about 1945, Trena Cox moved to 96 Watergate Street, Chester,Cox exhibited several times in the Walker Gallery Autumn Exhibitions in Liverpool. In the exhibition catalogue for the 1923 Autumn Exhibition, her home address is given as her parents' address in Birkenhead, as it also is for her 1924 exhibit at the Royal Academy in London. However, in the 1924 Walker Gallery Autumn Exhibition catalogue her address is given as being in Chester.
Trena Cox moved to 96 Watergate Street at some time around the Second World War. During the years up to and including 1939, electoral registers confirm that she was living at other addresses in Chester. However, by the time of the first electoral register after the war, in May 1945, she had moved to 96 Watergate St. However, she apparently continued using the Victoria Road studio alongside or within the Williams, Gamon & Co. works during the war and until at least 1946, with evidence including, for example, the Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, 1939 (p. 94, p. 584), the Kelly's Chester Directory of 1940 (p. 112) and Chester Area telephone directories in January – February 1945 and March 1946. This suggests that she may not have used her new home as a studio immediately. By the time of the January 1947 telephone directory, however, the only telephone number for Trena Cox is at the Watergate Street address, suggesting a break from the Victoria Road studio. which remained her home and, at least later, her studio, until she retired in 1972 (at the age of 77) and died, on 11 February 1980GRO 1980, Jan–Mar, Chester, v.35, p.0290 (not in 1977, as frequently quoted). Most of her works are in churches in the old counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. She was a fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. The authors of the Buildings of England series comment that "her windows are usually small, her figures modest, often with small-scale detail in the quarries" (small pieces of square or diamond-shaped glass set diagonally).
Until the publication of Jones (2012), there was very little coherent information available about the life of Trena Cox and errors in some earlier references, concerning, for example, the year of her death, have unfortunately been perpetuated by later authors.
Selected works BuildingLocationDateSubject, notes and referencesChester College ChapelChester, Cheshire1923, 1933, 1962A number of windows in the chapel and in its corridor.Cloister, Chester CathedralChester, Cheshire1925–27Eight figures in the southwest corner of the cloister.Slype, Chester CathedralChester, Cheshire1927Saint Christopher.Church of St Mary and All SaintsWhalley, Lancashire1928East window in the north chapel, depicting Saint George, Saint Nicholas, and King Arthur.Trevor ChurchTrevor, Wrexham, Wales1930Crucifixion.St Stephen's ChurchPrenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside1932Several small windows.St Michael's ChurchBlundellsands, Merseyside1932; 1933Annunciation; Saint Christopher.Church of the Resurrection and All SaintsCaldy, Wirral, Merseyside1933; 1946Saint George, Saint Werburgh, Saint Bridget, and Saint Martin.St Michael's ChurchHuyton, Merseyside1933Simeon with Jesus; Mary sitting at Jesus' feet.St Bartholomew's ChurchThurstaston, Wirral. Merseyside1934; 1951Two windows.St Werburgh's ChurchChester, Cheshire1936A set of eight small windows in the narthex.Holy Trinity ChurchLower Beeding, West Sussex1936Good Shepherd.St Michael's ChurchShotwick, Cheshire1938Saint Michael.Chapel of St Mary de Castro,Chester CastleChester, Cheshire1939A small version of the Mother and Child.St Matthew's ChurchStretton, Cheshire1939West window.Holy Trinity ChurchBickerton, Cheshirec. 1940Christ ChurchCrowton, Cheshire1946Mother and Child.St Oswald's ChurchBidston, Birkenhead, Merseyside1947Epiphany.St Ambrose ChurchWidnes, Cheshire1947A window given by German prisoners of war, depicting Saint Boniface.St Matthew's ChurchBuckley, Flintshire, Wales1948Christ in Glory as a Child in the south wall of the south aisle.St Lawrence's ChurchStoak, Cheshire1948Saint Christopher and Saint George moved here from Christ Church, Chester, in 1997.St James' ChurchLeyland, Lancashire1949Saint Michael; Saint George.St John the Evangelist's ChurchNorley, Cheshire1949The west window of the north aisle.Emmanuel ChurchBuckley, Flintshire, Wales1950; 1962Scenes from the birth and early life of Christ on the south wall.All Saints ChurchBubwith, East Yorkshire1951Te Deum.Shrine of Our Lady of WalsinghamWalsingham, Norfolk1955Annunciation.St Aiden's ChurchWheatley Hills, Doncaster,South Yorkshire1957Vision of St. John on Patmos.Shrewsbury CathedralShrewsbury, Shropshire1960A window with armorial items in the porch.All Saints' ChurchDaresbury, Cheshirec. 1960Two windows.St John the Baptist's ChurchChester, Cheshire1969Aethelred and the Hind, in the narthex.St Mary Magdalen's ChurchTallern Green, Wrexham, Wales1970An Angel Greets the Three Women at the Empty Tomb in the south wall of the nave.Wrexham CathedralWrexham, Wales1970Saint Michael and angels on the east wall of the south transept.The Priory and Parish Church of Saint Mary (Beddgelert)Beddgelert, Gwynedd, WalesUndatedVirgin and Child and David on the north wall of the nave.St Peter's ChurchChester, CheshireUndatedOn the west side of the church.St Chad's ChurchFarndon, CheshireUndatedThree windows.St James' ChurchInce, CheshireUndatedSaint Francis and Saint Werburgh.St Michael and All Angels ChurchLittle Leigh, CheshireUndatedSt Stephen's ChurchMoulton, CheshireUndatedTwo west windows and two in the north aisle.Holy Trinity ChurchNorthwich, CheshireUndatedChristmas scenes.St Trillo's ChapelRhos-on-Sea, Conwy, WalesUndatedSaint Elian in the south wall.Holy Cross ChurchWoodchurch, Birkenhead, MerseysideUndatedA window in the north aisle.
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