Frances Ridley Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) was an English poet, hymn writer and singer, born at Astley in Worcestershire, the youngest child of the Rev. William Henry Havergal, a clergyman and composer. She was a gifted pianist and linguist, and her hymns, among them ‘Take my life, and let it be’ and ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’, were sung throughout the English-speaking world. She died at Caswell Bay in Wales at the age of forty-two.

Her books of verse include The Ministry of Song (1869), Under the Surface (1874) and Loyal Responses (1878). The poems here are taken from an undated Toronto printing (Willard Tract Depot) of the Author’s Authorized Edition, with a prefatory note by her sister Maria V. G. Havergal. The book’s own groups are kept in each poem’s collection field, and the text comes from an OCR scan, so a few readings may still need correction.