Frederick William Faber was born in Yorkshire, England in 1814. He was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford, which he entered in 1832. At Oxford he came under the influence of Catholic scholar John Henry Newman, then vicar of St. Mary’s.
John Ellerton, a clergyman of the Church of England, was born in London in 1826. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1849. From 1850 until his death in 1893 he filled various positions in the Church of England as vicar and rector, being appointed Canon of St. Albans in 1892.
Matthew Bridges was an Englishman born in Essex, England in 1800. He was educated in the Church of England but became a convert to the Catholic Church in connection with the famous Tractarian movement led by Cardinal Newman and others.
Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778) was born in Surrey, England to an affluent family. He visited Ireland at the age of 16 and converted to Christianity at a service held in a barn – an experience he considered both ironic and providential since he had felt no spiritual yearnings at the grand cathedral his family attended.