John Kent

Born in Bideford, Devonshire, in December 1766, he was apprenticed to his father and worked as a shipwright in the Plymouth dockyard. His education was limited, but he began writing verse when he was young and gradually built a reputation through hymns shaped by Baptist belief and personal devotion.

His best-known collection, Original Gospel Hymns, was first published in 1803 and expanded through later editions. Even after gaining recognition as a hymnist, he continued in his trade, writing as time allowed rather than as a full-time literary figure.

He died on November 15, 1843. What makes his story memorable is the contrast at its center: a working craftsman with little formal schooling who nevertheless wrote hymns that endured far beyond his own lifetime.