Strengthen for Service: One Hundred Years of the English Hymnal 1906-2006

A compendium of twenty chapters covering the background, development and hundred-year history of the most popular Anglo-Catholic hymnal ever published in this country. Chapter titles such as Poetry as Hymnody, Children’s Hymns in the English Hymnal Tradition, and Vaughan Williams ‘Chamber of Horrors’, from such renowned contributors as Canon Dr Donald Gray, formerly Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons; hymn writer Elizabeth Cosnett; author and historian Revd Ian Bradley; and Professor John Harper, Director of the Royal School of Church Music, indicate the wide range of topics. The driving force behind publication of The English Hymnal in 1906 was the Revd Percy Dearmer whilst Vicar of St Mary’s Primrose Hill in London, and it is fitting that a portrait of him is featured on the frontispiece. A black and white plate section includes photographs of other influential figures such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, the first Music Editor who inspired the traditional ‘Englishness’ of much of its music The number of