This is Marazion s War Memorial; It is one of the greatest hymns, not necessarily a funeral hymn. It was written by a man who lived with the permanent reminder of the dangers of the sea, at Brixham. Based on St Luke. Does St Luke have a connection here?
Right! Well, I understood that indeed a cleric was resident in Marazion when he was inspired to write the hymn. My son in Devon says the same is said of Dartmouth. Have you anything definitive to say on the subject?
Ian Bradley [English Hymnology] writes that the verses were probably composed in 1820 when Lyte was just twenty-seven and in good health. The inspiration for the hymn seems to have come from a visit that he paid to an old friend, Augustus le Hunte, who was in his last illness. The dying man kept repeating the phrase, Abide With Me and these words so impressed the young pastor that he constructed a set of verses around them. The manuscript for the hymn was given to a friend at the time of Lyte s own death
I think i have cracked it, having just found this written of Henry Lyte who wrote the words not the music: In 1818, at Marazion, in Cornwall, he experience a great spiritual change which influenced all his after life. This was occasioned by visits to a brother clergyman who was sick, and who died happy, trusting alone in the atonement and power of his Saviour. I ll give you the link if you wish in a PM, Treeve.
Thanks for that ... it appears there is some confusion, but the dates coincide; Ecclesiastical records would show as to who died in Marazion in 1818. Either way, it is a powerful hymn, which clearly came from the heart.
Found this .. Henry Lyte was vicar of Marazion 1817-1819. He either went back to Wexford briefly, or his friend Augustus le Hunte was with him in Marazion.
