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.
Thomas Olivers was born in Tregoman, Wales in 1725. Early in life, he was left an orphan. Distant relatives brought him up in an indifferent manner. He was sent to school for a time and later became an apprentice to a shoemaker; a man who treated him so cruelly that he ran away. He turned to alcohol for comfort until he heard George Whitefield preach and he was converted.
Frank Mason North, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in New York in 1850. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1872 and entered the ministry that same year. After serving in various posts for twenty years, he became, in 1892, corresponding secretary of the New York City Church Extension and Missionary Society, a role he filled until his death. He contributed various hymns to the periodical Christian City.
John Newton was born in London in 1725. His mother, a pious woman, died when he was only seven years of age. His only “schooling” was from his eighth to his tenth year. He was engaged in the African slave trade for several years and was even himself held as a slave at one time in Sierra Leone. He bragged of his sinful nature but was converted in a storm at sea while returning from Africa. He married a devout Christian in 1750 and became a minister in the Established Church in 1758, preaching at a church in Olney, near Cambridge.
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.