Frances Ridley Havergal was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. Take My Life and Let it Be and Thy Life for Me are two of her best known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children. She did not occupy, and did not claim for herself, a prominent place as a poet, but she carved out a niche for herself.
Astley, Worcestershire, St Peter's Church: grave of Frances Ridley Havergal and of her father William Henry Havergal
Memoir, 1876
Life Chords, c. 1880
Life Mosaic, The Ministry of Song and Under the Surface, 1878
Hymns Ancient and Modern is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitable trust, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, and As of 2022 it publishes a wide range of hymnals as well as other theological and religious books and magazines, under imprints including the acquired publishers Canterbury Press and SCM Press.
Title page to the first edition, 1861
William Henry Monk, original editor of the hymnal.
The New Standard Edition on a stall in Bath Abbey.