William Kethe

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William Kethe, also Keithe, (? - June 6, 1594)

Kethe may have been Scottish, but this has never been confirmed. His name first enters the historical record among the Marian exiles in Frank­furt in 1555 and Genevain 1557, indicating he left with those who took John Knox's side in the troubles at Frankfurt. Kethe helped trans­late the Geneva Bible in 1560 and contributed twenty-five psalms to the 1561 Anglo-Ge­ne­van Psalt­er. Only ten of these were retained in the 1562 English Psalter, while the 1564 Scottish Psalter retained all 25. His version of Psalm 100 ("All People That on Earth Do Dwell") is almost universally known. Most of his Psalms are translations from French sources. Under Elizabeth I Kethe was vi­car at Childe Ok­e­ford, Dor­set­shire from 1561 to 1593 and a mil­i­tary chap­lain under the Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick at Le Havre in 1563 and 1569. He died in Dorsetshire.