William Mackay

Born in Montrose, Scotland, in 1839, William Paton Mackay trained as a physician at the University of Edinburgh before leaving medicine for the Presbyterian ministry. That unusual path gave his writing a practical, direct tone that many readers and hymn singers still find approachable.

He served as minister of Prospect Street Presbyterian Church in Hull and became best known as a hymn writer. His most enduring work is Revive Us Again, a hymn that has remained widely sung for generations.

Mackay died in 1885 at Portree, on the Isle of Skye. Though his life was relatively short, his hymns helped secure his place in nineteenth-century religious writing.