John Newton was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy and was himself enslaved for a time in West Africa. He is noted for being author of the hymns Amazing Grace and Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.
Contemporary portrait of Newton
The parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Olney, where Newton became curate in 1764.
St Mary Woolnoth in the City of London, where Newton was rector from 1779.
The vicarage in Olney, where Newton wrote the hymn that would become "Amazing Grace".
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.
Page 53 of Olney Hymns showing the first stanza of the hymn beginning with "Amazing Grace!"
John Newton in his later years
The vicarage in Olney, where Newton wrote the hymn that would become "Amazing Grace"
An 1847 publication of Southern Harmony, showing the title "New Britain" and shape note music.
