James Montgomery

Born in Irvine, Scotland, on November 4, 1771, he was the son of Moravian missionaries and spent much of his life in Sheffield, England. He became closely associated with the Sheffield Iris, first as an assistant and later as its editor, and his journalism brought him public attention as well as legal trouble for pieces that challenged authority.

He wrote lyric poems and longer works, but his lasting reputation rests above all on his hymns. More than a hundred of them remained in regular use, admired for their simplicity, warmth, and strong devotional feeling.

He died on April 30, 1854. Today he is remembered as a writer who combined accessible verse with moral seriousness, moving easily between the worlds of literature, worship, and reform.