| Taylor, Cyril Vincent |
b Wigan, Lancs 1907, d Petersfield, Hampshire 1991. Magdalen College Sch (boy chorister); Christ Church Coll Oxford (MA); Westcott House Oxford; ordained (CofE) 1931. Curate at Hinckley and Kingswood,… |
| Francis of Assisi (Bernardone, Giovanni Franceso) |
b Assisi, central Italy, 1182; d Assisi 1226. Brought up in comparative luxury, he pursued pleasure as a youth but at 20 was imprisoned during a local war. Serious illness made him rethink his… |
| Rinkart, Martin |
b Eilenburg on the Mulde, Saxony 1586, d Eilenburg 1649. The Latin School at Eilenburg; chorister at St Thomasâ Sch, Leipzig. Univ of Leipzig 1602, where music teaching helped to pay his bills; MA… |
| Kempis, Thomas Ă (Hemerken) |
b Kempen, nr Cologne, c1379, d 1425. Educated at Deventer, Netherlands, at a (public) school of the recently founded Brethren of the Common Life, he entered the community house of the Augustinian… |
| Mason, Lowell |
b Medfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1792, d Orange, New Jersey, USA 1872. Taught as a child by the local schoolmaster, the bandmaster and a neighbouring violinist among others, he also attended a singing… |
| Milman, Henry Hart |
b St Jamesâs, Middx (London), 1791, d Sunninghill nr Ascot, Berks 1868. Dr Burneyâs Academy at Greenwich; Eton Coll; Brasenose Coll Oxford, later a Fellow. While a student his many honours… |
| Synesius of Cyrene |
b Cyrene, N Africa c365â375, d c414 (given in Praise! as c430). Brought up in a wealthy family as a pagan gentleman, he studied at Alexandria under the neo-Platonist Hypatia, before travelling to… |
| Weber, Rhiannon Nest |
b Cardiff 1949. As a child she enjoyed Ficer Pritchardâs books of rhymes about Christian faith and life, written for memorising during a time of limited literacy in Welsh. Graduated BSc; as well as… |
| Bell, John Lamberton |
b Kilmarnock, Ayrshire 1949. Univ of Glasgow (degrees in Arts and Divinity after one false start and an interval working as a volunteer in London and Amsterdam). He was then ordained in the Ch of… |
| Smith, Walter Chalmers |
b Aberdeen 1824, d Kinbuck, Dunblane, Perthshire (Stirling) 1908. Aberdeen Grammar Sch and Marischal Coll; Aberdeen Univ (MA 1841); then studied under Thos Chalmers at New Coll Edinburgh. After a… |
| Swain, Joseph |
b Birmingham 1761, d Walworth, Surrey (SE London) 1796. Like other hymnwriters (see eg notes to Doddridge, Gerhardt, Hood, Lyte and Olivers) he was orphaned when young; he was originally apprenticed… |
| Edwards, Brian Herbert |
(not in Praise! index), b Barnstaple, N Devon 1941. Borden Grammar Sch, Sittingbourne, Kent and London Bible Coll (BD 1963). Beginning his ministry in 1963 as asst at Lansdowne Evangelical Ch, SE… |
| Novello, Vincent |
b St Marylebone, London (Middx) 1781, d Nice, France 1861. The son of a Piedmontese pastrycook who settled in London with his English wife and wanted the best possible education for their children. He… |
| Mote, Edward |
b Upper Thames St, City of London 1797, d Horsham, Sussex 1874. He worked in London as a cabinet-maker. Christian faith apparently had no part in his early years, but on hearing the preaching of John… |
| Mountain, James |
b New Wortley, nr Leeds, Yorks 1844, d Tunbridge Wells, Kent 1933. Trained for ministry in the churches of the Countess of Huntingdonâs Connexion at Rotherham College; subsequently at Nottingham,… |
| Massie, Richard |
b Chester, Ches 1800, d Pulford Hall, Coddington, nr Chester 1887. The son of a clerical family, he inherited two large ancestral estates and spent most of his time in (and on) his garden and with his… |
| Urhan, Chrétien |
b Montjoie nr Aix-la-Chapelle, France (now Aachen, Germany) 1790, d Paris, France 1845. As a young enthusiast for music, he was first taught the violin by his father and soon learned to play the viola… |
| Olivers, Thomas |
b Tregynon, nr Newtown, Powys (Montgomeryshire), N Wales 1725, d London 1799. Orphaned at the age of 4, he grew up as a âwild and reckless youthâ with what might today be called anti-social or… |
| Lee, David |
David Lee was brought up in south Manchester, sketching his first hymn tune while at primary school, and has been active in music in churches ever since. While an undergraduate at Durham in the late… |
| Marshman, Joshua |
b Westbury Leigh, nr Bath, Som 1768, d Serampore, India 1837. Largely self-educated owing to his familyâs poverty, he worked first for his father in the weaving trade. He taught for a time at a… |
| Barnes, Jonathan M |
b Sidmouth, Devon 1951. Sir Walter St Johnâs Grammar Sch, Battersea, SW London; Christ Church (teacher training) College, Canterbury, Kent. In his youth he belonged to St Barnabas Ch, Clapham… |
| Bizet, Georges Alexandre CĂ©sar LĂ©opold |
b Paris, France 1838, d Bougival, nr Paris 1875. His early musical talent was encouraged mainly by his mother, and he was enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 9. For the next 9 years this… |
| Ingemann, Bernhardt Severin |
b Thorkildstrup (or Tockildstrup) on the island of Falster, Denmark 1789, d SorĂž, Zealand (Sjaelland), Denmark 1862. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he fought in the defence of Copenhagen against the… |
| Howells, Herbert Norman |
b Lydney, Glos 1892, d Putney, London 1983. Lydney Grammar Sch and Gloucester Cathedral Sch; articled to the Gloucester organist Sir Herbert Brewer 1905â11, he won an RCM scholarship in 1912 (the… |
| Davies, Samuel |
b nr Summit Ridge, Newcastle Co, Delaware, USA 1723 (or 1726?), d Princeton, NJ, USA 1761. Educated privately under the guidance of Samuel Blair, a clergyman from Chester Co, Pennsylvania. As a young… |
| Bernard of Cluny |
(aka B of Morlaix, Morlass, Morval or Murles), b Morlaix, Brittany, France, early 12th c (c1140), d Cluny, Burgundy, France. Born probably of English parents, he became a monk in the community of… |
| Pestel(l), Thomas |
b ?Leicester 1584/5, d Leicester 1667 (1659?). Queenâs Coll Cambridge; he was then ordained and became Rector of Packington, nr Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leics, until handing over to his son, with whom… |
| Jarman, Thomas |
b Clipston, Northants (nr Market Harborough), 1776, d Clipston 1861. Following his father into the tailoring trade, he still made time for much music, largely self-taught by the Tonic Sol-Fa method.… |
| Seddon, James (Jim) Edward |
b Lancs 1915; d London 1983. Tyndale Hall, Bristol 1936; Univ of Durham (LTh 1939). Ordained in 1939, he was curate of parishes in Everton, Toxteth and Southport, Lancs 1939â45. From 1945 to 1955 he… |
| Handel, George Frideric |
(originally HĂ€ndel or Haendel), b Halle, Germany 1685, d Hanover Sq, London, Good Friday 1759. A youthful violinist at Hamburg, at first against his fatherâs wishes, he moved to Italy at 21 gaining… |
