Samuel Crossman

bpt. 28 September 1625—4 February 1683/4 

Note: Crossman died on 4 Feb. 1683, during a time period in which the new year did not begin until March 25, so some biographies give the corrected calendar year as 1684. 

SAMUEL CROSSMAN, divine and poet, was son of Samuel Crossman of Monk’s Bradfield, Suffolk. He received his education at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he graduated in arts, and proceeded to the degree of B.D. in 1660. Taking orders, he obtained the rectory of Little Henry in Essex, from which he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. Subsequently he again conformed to the establishment, became one of the king’s chaplains, and was appointed a prebendary of Bristol, by patent, on 11 Dec. 1667. He succeeded to the deanery of Bristol on the death of Richard Towgood, B.D., about 1 May 1683, and was instituted on 1 July in that year. He died on 4 Feb. 1683/4 and was buried in the south aisle of the cathedral church of Bristol. After his death a broadsheet appeared under the title of “The last testimony and declaration of the Rev. Samuel Crossman, D.D., and Dean of Bristol, setting forth his dutiful and true affection to the Church of England, as by law established,” with a preface by John Knight.

by Thompson Cooper
Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 13 (1888)

Featured Hymns:

Farewell, poor world! I must be gone
My song is love unknown

Published works:

The Young Man’s Monitor, with The Young Man’s Meditation (1664): PDF
A Sermon Preached in Christ’s Church Bristol (1676): PDF
A Sermon Preached upon April 23, 1680 (1680): PDF
Two Sermons Preached in the Cathedral-Church of Bristol (1681): PDF
An Humble Plea for the Quiet Rest of God’s Ark (1682): PDF
Last Testimony & Declaration (1683/4): PDF

Manuscripts:

Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Tanner MSS:
https://databank.ora.ox.ac.uk/misccoll/datasets/CodicumManTanner/Tanner.pdf

Related Resources:

Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, vol. 2 (1692), p. 549 (under “Richard Towgood”): PDF

Thompson Cooper, “Samuel Crossman,” Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 13 (London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1888), p. 230: HathiTrust

John Julian, “Samuel Crossman,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1892), p. 269: Google Books

Stuart Handley, “Samuel Crossman,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/6809

J.R. Watson, “Samuel Crossman,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/s/samuel-crossman

Samuel Crossman, Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/person/Crossman_S