A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Havergal, William

HAVERGAL, Rev. William Henry, was born in 1793 in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1815, and M.A. in 1819. He was ordained by Bishop Ryder, and in 1829 was presented to the Rectory of Ashley, near Bewdley. Having met with a severe accident he was obliged to relinquish his clerical duties for several years, during which time he devoted himself to the study of music. His first published composition was a setting of Heber's hymn, 'From Greenland's icy mountains,' as an anthem, the profits of which, as of many other of his compositions, he devoted to charitable objects. In 1836 he published an Evening Service in E, and 100 antiphonal chants (op. 35), in the same year obtaining the Gresham Prize Medal for his Evening Service in A (op. 37), a distinction which he also gained in the following year for his anthem, 'Give thanks' (op. 40). Other anthems and services followed, and in 1844 he commenced his labours towards the improvement of Psalmody by the publication of a reprint of Ravenscroft's Psalter. In 1845 he was presented to the Rectory of St. Nicholas, Worcester, and to an Honorary Canonry in the Cathedral. In 1847 he published 'The Old Church Psalmody' (op. 43), and in 1854 an excellent 'History of the Old Hundredth Tune.' In 1859 he brought out 'A Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes' (op. 48), of his own composition. Besides the works enumerated above, Mr. Havergal wrote a number of songs and rounds for the young, besides many hymns, sacred songs, and carols for the periodical entitled 'Our Own Fireside.' These were afterwards collected and published as 'Fireside Music.' As the pioneer of a movement to improve the musical portions of the Anglican Services, Mr. Havergal's labours deserve more general recognition than they have hitherto met with. At the time when church music was at its lowest ebb, the publication of his 'Old Church Psalmody' drew attention to the classical school of English ecclesiastical music, and paved the way for the numerous excellent collections of hymns and chants which the Anglican Church now possesses. Mr. Havergal died on April 19, 1870. After hia death his works were edited by his youngest daughter, Miss F. R. Havergal.

[ W. B. S. ]