Henry Williams Baker
27 May 1821—12 February 1877
Henry Baker, Some Hymns and Hymn Writers (1907).
The volume entitled Hymns, Ancient and Modern, for Use in the Services of the Church, has had an unprecedented popularity. No other compilation can compare with it in the rapidity and extent of its circulation. It appeared in 1861 with 273 hymns, and in 1868 with an appendix containing 113 additional hymns. Fourteen supplementary hymns have since been added, making the whole number 400. It has been published in a great variety of forms and sizes, with and without tunes, both in England and America. It is claimed that nearly five million copies have been sold. Of this hymnal the REV. SIR HENRY WILLIAMS BAKER, Baronet, was one of the editors-in-chief.
He was the son of Rear Admiral Sir Henry Lorraine Baker, whose father, Sir Robert Baker, the youngest son of John Baker, M.D., of Richmond, Surrey, was created by George III, April 30, 1796, a baronet. The family seat is Upper Dunstable House, Richmond, on the Surrey side of the Thames. Sir Henry was the third baronet, and was born at London May 27, 1821. His mother was a daughter of William Williams, Esq., from whom he derived his second name. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and took his degree of B.A. in 1844. Having been designed for the Church, he was the same year ordained deacon, and December 20, 1846, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Rochester at Westminster. He was preferred in 1851 to the vicarage of Monkland, succeeded to the baronetcy in 1859, and died February 12, 1877.
Sir Henry distinguished himself principally in the line of hymnology. Some of his hymns were written as early as 1852. To Hymns, Ancient and Modern he contributed twelve original hymns and at least ten translations. He developed not only peculiar facility in versification, but remarkable skill in adapting his compilation to the prevailing tastes of the Church of England. His advanced churchmanship is everywhere apparent, especially in his hymn on Baptism: “’Tis done, that new and heavenly birth / Which re-creates the sons of earth, / And cleanses from the guilt of sin / The souls whom Jesus died to win.”
Of his translations, four are of permanent value: “On this day, the first of days,” etc., is a translation of “Die parente temporum,” etc., from the LeMans Breviary. “Blessed Trinity! from mortal sight,” etc., is a successful version of “O luce, quae tua lates,” etc., a hymn in the Paris Breviary, credited to Santolius Maglorianus. Another Latin hymn by the same author, “Prome vocem, mens canoram,” etc., was versified by Chandler and reconstructed by Sir Henry in the form now so extensively in use, “Now, my soul! thy voice upraising,” etc. “Jesus! grant me this, I pray,” etc., is a version of a Latin hymn of four stanzas, “Dignare me, O Jesu! rogo te,” etc., taken from one of the later French missals, and of uncertain origin. Among the earliest of his poetical essays is the hymn, “Oh! what, if we are Christ’s,” etc. It was written in 1852, and celebrates the faith of the martyrs. “Oh, praise our God today,” etc., “There is a blessed home,” etc., were written in 1852. Sir Henry was also the author of Daily Prayers, for the Use of Those Who Have to Work Hard, a Daily Text-Book, also for hard workers, and a few short tracts.
by EDWIN HATFIELD
The Poets of the Church (1884)
Featured Hymns:
Author:
The King of love my shepherd is
Translator:
O sacred head, surrounded
Alterer:
Let us with a gladsome mind
O come, all ye faithful
O come, O come, Emmanuel
Of the Father’s love begotten
Collections of Hymns:
Hymns Ancient & Modern
Trial/Draft (1859): PDF
1st Edition (1861): Archive.org
Annotated by Louis Biggs (1867): Archive.org
with Appendix (1868): SBTS
Revised & Enlarged (1875): Google Books
with Supplement (“Complete Ed.”) (1889): Archive.org
Historical Companion (1889): PDF | 2nd ed. (1903): Archive.org
Hymns for the London Mission (1874)
Hymns for Mission Services (1876–77)
The Psalter and Canticles (1884)
see also:
Hymnal for Use of the English Church (London, 1852)
Related Resources:
Josiah Miller, “Sir Henry Williams Baker, Bart.,” Singers and Songs of the Church (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1869): 558–559: Archive.org
“The Late Rev. Sir Henry Baker,” Pall Mall Gazette (London: 13 Feb. 1877): PDF
“Death of the Rev. Sir H.W. Baker, Bart.,” Morning Post (London: 14 Feb. 1877): PDF
Edwin Hatfield, “Sir Henry Williams Baker, Bart.,” The Poets of the Church (NY, A.D.F. Randolph & Co., 1884), pp. 31–33: Archive.org
John Julian, “Sir Henry Williams Baker, Bart.,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 107: HathiTrust
Erik Routley, “Some correspondence between the Reverend Sir Henry Baker and the Reverend Dr. John Bacchus Dykes, 1874,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 6, no. 1 (April 1965), pp. 1–12: Website
Bernard Braley, “Henry Baker,” Hymnwriters 2 (London: Stainer & Bell, 1989), pp. 120–146.
Susan Drain, “Sir Henry Williams Baker,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004): DOI
Janet Butler, et al., Hymns Ancient & Modern and Henry Williams Baker: A Herefordshire Vicar and His Hymn Book (Leominster: Leominster History Study Group, 2013).
Marion Lars Hendrickson, “Henry W. Baker,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 2 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 199–200.
H.W. Baker, Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/person/Baker_HenryW
J.R. Watson, “Henry Williams Baker,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: http://www.hymnology.co.uk/h/henry-williams-baker