John Henry Newman, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, was born in London in 1801. He graduated from Oxford in 1820 and for several years was a tutor at that college. He was a leader of the High Church party in the Church of England and had great influence among the young men at Oxford.
John Mason Neale, an English clergyman and author, was born in London in 1818. He graduated from Cambridge in 1840 and the following year entered the ministry. He was appointed warden of Sackville College, Sussex, an institution for aged women, in 1846; an office he continued to fill until his death in 1866. He was the author of numerous published works including 15 volumes of hymns and translations.
Gerard Moultrie, a clergyman in the Church of England, was born in 1829 in Rugby, England. Among his published volumes were Hymns and Lyrics for the Seasons and Saints’ Days of the Church, 1867. His hymns include translations from Latin, Greek, and German.
Edward Mote, an English Baptist minister, was born in London in 1797. He was a cabinetmaker for some years but eventually entered the ministry. From 1852 until his death in 1874 he was pastor of the Baptist Church in Essex. He wrote more than 100 hymns.
Thomas Moore, the noted Irish poet, was born in Dublin in 1779. He graduated from Trinity College, in his native city, in 1798, and the following year moved to London and began the study of law. From 1800 until his death in 1852, he published works in prose and poetry including Sacred Songs, 1816.
James Montgomery, the son of a Moravian minister; was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1771. He became a renowned poet and abandoned the Christian faith. At the age of 43, he repented of his sinful condition and joined the Moravian congregation at Fulneck.
John Samuel Bewley Monsell, a clergyman in the Church of England, was born in Londonderry, Ireland in 1811. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He took holy orders in 1834 and served in several offices of the Church of England. His death in 1875 was caused by his falling from the roof of his church, which was at the time under construction.
John Milton, one of the greatest of English poets, is known to hymnologists as the Puritan author of 19 versions of various Psalms, which appeared in his Poems in English and Latin, 1673. Milton was born in London in 1608 and died in the same city in 1674. He was educated at Cambridge. In 1652 he became totally blind – a condition that did not keep him from writing such works as the epic “Paradise Lost.”
Albert Midlane, an English layman, was born in Newport, Isle of Wight in 1825. During his lifetime he wrote over 800 hymns. He attributed his interest in and contributions to hymnology to the suggestion and encouragement of a favorite Sunday school teacher.