Frances Ridley Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal (14 December 1836 – 3 June 1879) was an English religious poet and hymn writer. Take My Life and Let it Be and Thy Life for Me (also known as I Gave My Life for Thee) are two of her best known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children.

Life

Memorial plaque situated near Caswell Bay

Astley, Worcestershire, St Peter's Church: grave of Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879), and of her father William Henry Havergal (1793–1870)

Havergal was born into an Anglican family, at Astley in Worcestershire. Her father, William Henry Havergal (1793–1870), was a clergyman, writer, composer, and hymnwriter. Her brother, Henry East Havergal, was a priest in the Church of England and an organist.

In 1852/3 she studied in the Louisenschule, Düsseldorf, and at Oberkassel. Otherwise she led a quiet life, not enjoying consistent good health; she travelled, in particular to Switzerland. She supported the Church Missionary Society.

Frances Ridley Havergal died of peritonitis near Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales at age 42. She is buried in the far western corner of the churchyard at St Peter's parish church, Astley, together with her father and near her sister, Maria Vernon Graham Havergal.^[1]

Tributes

Her sisters saw much of her work published posthumously. Havergal College, a private girls' school in Toronto, is named after her. The composer Havergal Brian adopted the name as a tribute to the Havergal family.

Works

• Ministry of Song (1870)
• Take My Life and Let It Be (1874)
• Under the Surface (1874)
• The four happy days (1874)
• Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace (1876)
• Who Is on the Lord's Side? (1877)
• Royal Commandments (1878)
• O Merciful Redeemer
• Loyal Responses (1878)
• Kept for the Master's Use (1879) memoir
• Life Chords (1880)
• Royal Bounty (1877)
• Little Pillows, or Goodnight Thoughts for the Little Ones (1880)
• Morning bells, or, Waking thoughts for the little ones (1880)
• Swiss Letters and Alpine Poems (1881) edited by J. M. Crane
• Under His Shadow: the Last Poems of Frances Ridley Havergal (1881)
• The Royal Invitation (1882)
• Life Echoes (1883)
• Poetical Works (1884) edited by M. V. G. Havergal and Frances Anna Shaw
• Coming to the King (1886)
• My King and His Service (1896)
• Forget Me Nots of Promise, Text from Scripture and verses by Frances Ridley Havergal, Marcus Ward&Co.

Books & Illustrations

• 

  Frances Ridley Havergal's memoir, 1876.

• 

  Bright be thy Christmas tide! Carol it far and wide, ..., words by F.R. Havergal, floral design by Helga von Cramm, c. 1880.

• 

  Aiguille du Dru, chromolithograph by Helga von Cramm, with F.R. Havergal verse, 1870s.

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  Cover of LIFE CHORDS, published by James Nisbet & Co., London, 13th edition, c. 1880.

• 

  Cover of LIFE MOSAIC The Ministry of Song and Under the Surface, by Frances Ridley Havergal, With Twelve Illustrations by THE BARONESS HELGA VON CRAMM, A.D.F. Randolph & Co., 900 Broadway, New York, 1878.

• 

  Cover of LIFE MOSAIC The Ministry of Song and Under the Surface, 3rd edition, James Nisbet & Co., London, 1879.

• 

  Cover of Swiss Letters, by Frances Ridley Havergal, edited by her sister J. Miriam Crane, J. Nisbet & Co., 1881.

• 

  Inscribed and signed copy of Swiss Letters, by F. R. Havergal, edited by J. Miriam Crane, J. Nisbet & Co., London, 1881.

• 

  Peace.

• 

  Weisshorn and flowers.

• 

  Jungfrau.

• 

  Lucerne.

• 

  New Year card featuring a Lauristinus (Viburnum tinus) and Solanum.

• 

  Maderane Valley, Christmas card.

See also

English women hymnwriters (18th to 19th-century)

An Hymn

Take my life, and let it be

1. ^ Written February 4, 1874.

References

• Frances Ridley Havergal Janet Grierson, The Havergal Society, Worcester 1979 ISBN 0-9506544-0-X
• Frances Ridley Havergal's Last Week (1879) Maria Vernon Graham Havergal
• Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal, by her Sister (1880) M. V. G. Havergal, including an autobiography
• Florence Nightingale, Frances Ridley Havergal, Catherine Marsh, Mrs Ranyard (1885) Lizzie Alldridge
• Frances Ridley Havergal: a full sketch of her life, (1904) Edward Davies
• Women who have worked and won : the life-story of Mrs. Spurgeon, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, F.R. Havergal, and Pandita Ramabai (1904) Jennie Chappell
• In Trouble and in Joy: Four Women Who Lived for God, (2004) Sharon James, ISBN 0-85234-584-4. Biographies of Margaret Baxter (1639–1681), Sarah Edwards (1710–1758), Anne Steele (1717–1778) and Frances Ridley Havergal
• Francis Ridley Havergal - Opened Treasures : 366 Choice Meditations - Loizeaux Bros, New York, 1979

Further reading

• Waite, Yvonne S. Take My Life: a Portrait of Frances Havergal. Collingswood, N.J.: The Bible for Today, [ca. 2000]. 25 p. N.B.: Transcript of a bio-dramatic text, for public recitation, about the life, religious piety, and accomplishments of this lady hymnist.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Frances Ridley Havergal

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Frances Ridley Havergal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frances Ridley Havergal.

• The Havergal Trust – The purpose of the Havergal Trust is to complete, publish, and disseminate very widely – to make available to many – the poetry, prose, and music of Frances Ridley Havergal.
• Works by Frances Ridley Havergal at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Frances Ridley Havergal at Internet Archive
• Works by Frances Ridley Havergal at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• The Cyber Hymnal page on Frances Ridley Havergal.
• Frances Havergal biographies