William Henry Havergal

HAVERGAL, William Henry. b. High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 18 January 1793; d. Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, 19 April 1870. He was educated at Merchant Taylor’s School, London and Saint Edmund Hall, Oxford (BA 1816, MA 1819). He took Holy Orders in 1816, and served at two curacies, one in Somerset, the other in Bristol, before becoming rector of Astley, Worcestershire in 1829. In the same year he was thrown out of a carriage, an accident which affected his sight and forced him to resign his duties for a considerable period of time. During a period of recuperation he took up his musical studies, and it is as a composer and compiler of church music collections that he is best known. His...