General Reference Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin in 1820 and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He moved to Canada in 1845 where he led a humble life until his death in 1886. Ira D. Sankey, in his Story of the Gospel Hymns, wrote that “the young lady to whom Scriven was to be married was accidentally drowned on the eve of their wedding day. This sad event led him to consecrate his life and property to the service of Christ.
Christian Frederic Richter was born in Silesia in 1676. He graduated from the University of Halle and worked at the orphanage there. He was a student of medicine as well as of theology. He wrote about 30 hymns before his death in 1711.
George Rundle Prynne, an English clergyman of the Established Church, was born in Cornwall, England in 1818. He was educated at Cambridge and was ordained to the ministry in 1841. He became vicar of St. Peter’s, in Plymouth, in 1848. Among his publications were three volumes of sermons and Hymnal Suited for the Services of the Church, 1858. He died in 1903.
Adelaide Anne Proctor was born in London in 1825 and died there in 1864. Her hymns were published in her book Legends and Lyrics, 1858. In 1851 she became a member of the Roman Catholic Church. She was highly regarded for her skills as a linguist.
Folliott Sanford Pierpoint was born in Bath, England in 1835. He was educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1871. He published a volume of poems in 1878 and contributed a few hymns to the Churchman’s Companion, Lyra Eucharistica, and other publications. He was a life-long member of the Church of England.
Edward Perronet, an Independent English clergyman, was born in 1726. He was the son of Vincent Perronet, vicar of Shoreham, who was a friend and supporter of the Wesleys. Edward was educated in the Church of England but became a Wesleyan preacher.
Ray Palmer, a Congregational minister, was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island in 1808. At 13 he became a clerk in a dry goods store in Boston where he joined the Park Street Congregational Church. That church’s pastor, Dr. S.E. Dwight, discerned his promise and took a deep interest in him – helping him get into Phillips Academy, Andover and later Yale College.