Martin Travers (1886-1948) was one of the most distinguished church furnishers and stained glass painters of the Twentieth Century. He was very much used by those who were seeking to renew the Church of England in the Catholic Faith, and who had a particular zeal for the Baroque.
Travers connection with Cranford was through Fr Maurice Child who was Rector from 1935 to 1950. Fr Child was one of the influential figures behind the Society of St Peter and St Paul (SSPP), as well as being General Secretary of the Anglo-Catholic Congress and the Church Union.
In 1936 he installed the high altar and its terracotta coloured reredos, which incorporates a Tabernacle, which can convert to a throne for exposition by sliding the roof forward over the outer doors. Four baroque candlesticks accompanied it together with a crucifix and attached to the altar is a double-sided frontal in gilded and painted wood. Above hangs the splendid Counter Reformation style octagonal canopy, matching the frontal, and complete with wooden pendant tassels. Travers then remodelled the chancel arch and placed two cherubim on either side holding cartouches depicting the Agnus Dei and the Pelican. He made new communion rails, and also provided a new gallery at the west. This extensive restoration and refurbishment apparently necessitated the closure of the church for a time in 1936-7.
In 1941 Travers designed the statue and plinth of Our Lady with an extraordinarily tall canopy above, which has been moved since its installation, and the tabor for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in silver gilded wood with a large painted angel's head on the front which is in many ways, as with all his work at Cranford, reminiscent of his work of some years previously. Finally in 1944 and 1945 respectively Travers designed memorial tablets for the church; for Fr. Lewis, Ronald Bocking, and the restoration of Dr. Fuller's monument.
Other work of his in the church includes a crucifix, a holder for the Paschal Candle on the north side of the Sanctuary, font cover and stalls.
At one point Travers put forward a design for a new East Window depicting the Annunciation which would have been in two panels but this work was never carried out and the 19th century Kempe window survives to this day.
Travers himself considered the refurbishment of the old church at Cranford to be his best work.
