Isaac Watts was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "Joy to the World", and "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past". He is recognized as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.
Henry Venn, was an English evangelical minister and one of the founders of the Clapham Sect, an influential evangelical group within the Church of England.
Frances Ridley Havergal was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. Take My Life and Let it Be and Thy Life for Me are two of her best known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children. She did not occupy, and did not claim for herself, a prominent place as a poet, but she carved out a niche for herself.
Anne Steele was an English Baptist hymn writer and essayist. For a full century after her death, she filled a larger place in United States and British hymnals than any other woman.
"Just as I Am" is a well-known hymn, written by Charlotte Elliott in 1835, first appearing in the Christian Remembrancer, of which Elliott became the editor in 1836. The final verse is taken from Elliott's Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836).
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams was an English poet and hymnwriter. A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", reportedly played by the band as the RMS Titanic sank in 1912.
Charitie Lees Smith was an Anglican Irish American hymnwriter. Her hymns, well known in England and Ireland, were included in Lyra Sacra Hibernica, Ryle's Spiritual Songs, Lyra Britannica, and Times of Refreshing. Additionally, she wrote various religious pieces for periodicals.
Ada Ruth Habershon (1861-1918) was an English Christian hymnist, best known for her 1907 gospel song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" for which the tune was composed by Charles H. Gabriel.
Dora Greenwell was an English poet. The name "Dora Greenwell" was for many years supposed to be the pseudonym of a writer of rare spiritual insight and fine poetic genius. It was very generally surmised that she was a member of the Society of Friends; and there was much ground for this supposition. As time wore on, and book followed book, some of the facts of her personal history became known and were occasionally referred to in the public press. But for a very long period little was really known of her actual life, and many mistakes gained currency.
Emily Taylor was an English schoolmistress, poet, children's author, and hymnist. She wrote numerous tales for children, chiefly historical, along with books of instruction and some descriptive natural history.
Hugh Nicholas Pearson (1776–1856) was an English cleric, Dean of Salisbury from 1823. He was connected with the Clapham Sect.
Henry Venn Elliott (1792–1865) was an English divine.
Annie Hawks was an American poet and gospel hymnist who wrote a number of hymns with her pastor, Robert Lowry. She contributed to several popular Sunday school hymnbooks, and wrote the lyrics to a number of well-known hymns including: "I Need Thee Every Hour"; "Thine, Most Gracious Lord"; "Why Weepest Thou? Who Seekest Thou?"; "Full and Free Salvation" and "My Soul Is Anchored".
Mary Hall Adams was a 19th-century American book editor and letter writer. Her writing include: Sabbath School annual for 1846-, Never give up, or, How children may be happy, and The Rainbow and Other Stories: A Juvenile Gift. Adams died in 1860.
Phoebe Hinsdale Brown was the first notable American woman hymnwriter, and the first American woman to write a hymn of wide popularity, "I love to steal awhile away".
"I love to steal awhile away" is a Christian hymn written by Phoebe Hinsdale Brown in 1818 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. It was Brown's habit to retire some distance from her house every day at a certain hour for meditation and prayer. The well-beaten path to the woods was discovered, and she was ridiculed by a thoughtless neighbor. "I love to steal awhile away" was written that night in tears, and later sung wherever the English language is spoken. The original version of the poem referenced Brown's domestic cares, but these were removed by the Rev. Asahel Nettleton in the published hymn.
Grace Webster Hinsdale was an American author whose early development of a religious temperament prompted her most successful literary work. Both of her books, Coming to the King: a Book of Daily Devotions for Children and Thinking Aloud, were first published in 1865. She was a contributor for about 30 years to periodicals, principally verses, but also short sketches. Hinsdale died in 1902.
Elizabeth Scott Williams Smith was an 18th-century British-born American poet and hymnwriter. Prior to 1750, she wrote many hymns with the largest of her known manuscript collections containing 90 of these. The first publication of her hymns was in The Christian's Magazine, edited by William Dodd, 1763. Nineteen of her hymns were given in John Ash and Caleb Evans' baptist Collection, Bristol, 1769, and twenty in John Dobell's New Selection, 1806. Of these, one of the best known is "All hail, Incarnate God". Smith died in 1776.
Dorothy Ann Thrupp was a British psalmist, hymnwriter, and translator. Many of her psalms and hymns, which were published under various pseudonyms, were included in: Friendly Visitor ; Children's Friend ; Selection of Hymns and Poetry for the Use of Infant Schools and Nurseries ; Hymns for the Young ; and Thoughts for the Day. Thrupp was the author of Thoughts for the Day that was published in 1837, and Songs by the Way. In addition to these, her hymns were published in magazines edited by Caroline Fry. Thrupp is particularly remembered as a writer of hymns for children. "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead us" first appeared unsigned in her collection Hymns for the Young, in 1836, with music by William B. Bradbury. Her most popular hymn was for children and it was titled A Little Ship on the Sea. Thrupp died in 1847.
Mary Whitwell Hale was an American teacher, school founder, and hymnwriter eminent during the first half of the 19th century. She was a contributor to The Christian Register. Her pen name was made up of the concluding letters of her name. Hale died in 1862.
