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Travel with Frances Ridley Havergal

Rhyme and religion

TRAVEL WITH FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL
The English hymn writer and poet
By Carol Purves
Day One. 128 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978-1-84625-206-8

Frances Ridley Havergal was one of the most significant of Victorian women, but, unlike Florence Nightingale or Josephine Butler, her influence stemmed not from a public personality but from her writings and, supremely, from her poems and hymns.

She was born in 1836 into a Worcestershire rectory with a large, loving and musical family. An attractive and articulate child, she was reading by the age of three and writing simple hymns when she was six. She suffered the loss of her mother when she was 12, and when her father remarried, her stepmother, through jealousy, imposed petty restrictions on her, even when she was an adult. Frances learned Hebrew and Greek from her father, became fluent in French and German, and taught herself Welsh by means of her Welsh Bible and Prayer Book. In her mid-teens, she memorised the Gospels, Epistles, Revelation and Psalms.

Poetry came naturally to her, and she wrote letters and even reports in verse. After publishing hymns in magazines, she produced a steady succession of devotional books in poetry and prose during the 1870s. Her hymns include notable ones such as ‘Take my life’, ‘Lord speak to me, that I may speak’, ‘Like a river glorious’, ‘I am trusting thee, Lord Jesus’, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side’ and ‘Thou art coming, O my Saviour’ — all imbued with her Bible knowledge. Her reputation became international, and she maintained an enormous correspondence until her death at the age of 42.

This book traces her life through the various places associated with her, illustrating it lavishly with photos and providing detailed travel information. It is beautifully produced, although the text contains numerous irritating repetitions and inconsistencies which should have been picked up. It is to be hoped that it will lead to a renewed interest in her hymns.

Joy Horn,
Cranleigh, Surrey