W. H. Havergal

William Henry Havergal (January 18, 1793 - April 19, 1870) was an Anglican clergyman, writer, composer and anthem, as well as a publisher of sermons and brochures. He was the father of anthem author and poet Francis Ridley Havergal and clergyman and organist Henry East Havergal (1820-1875). Havergal was born in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and was educated at the School of Merchants Taylors, Northwood and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1815 and a master's degree in 1819. He was ordained deacon in 1816 and a priest in 1817, and became rector of Astley in Worcestershire in 1829, St. Nicholas, Worcester in 1842, and permanent pastor Shereshill near Wolves in 1860. He died at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and is buried in Astley. Havergal, the only son of William Havergal, who died on September 2, 1854, Mary, daughter of Thomas Hopkins, was born in Chipping Wick, Buckinghamshire, January 18, 1793; He began his education at the Princes of Risboro in 1801 and entered the Taylors merchants school in July 1806. During the holidays, he studied music, and from the age of fourteen he often played the organ in his parish church. It was originally intended for the medical profession, but eventually went to Oxford, enrolling at St. Edmund Hall College on July 10, 1812. He graduated from BA 1816, MA 1819 and was ordained on March 24, 1816. He became assistant curator under Thomas Trengen Biddulf in the churches of St. James, Bristol and Crich Heathfield. In June 1820, he became the curator in charge of Koali, Gloucestershire, and lecturer of the Dursleys, and took the students. On June 25, 1822, he became curator of Astley, Worcestershire. He visited Cornwall and Yorkshire in 1826 and the following two years as a deputy from the Church Missionary Society.