Richard Conyers

Richard Conyers

Richard Conyers (1725–1786) was an English evangelical cleric, and the hymn-book compiler of a precursor to the Olney Hymns.[1][2]

Life

Born in Lastingham, Yorkshire, Conyers became rector of Helmsley in 1756, and also rector of Kirby Misperton in 1763. He served for a short period as a naval chaplain, from 1761.[1] Running a monthly communion service at which a collection was taken, with a regular attendance of 450, he was able to finance school places for 40 children.[3]

There was at this time an identifiable group of Yorkshire evangelicals, who included also Miles Atkinson and Henry Venn.[4] Robert Hay Drummond, his archbishop, made clear his dislike of Conyers's preaching in 1764, an opinion formed after hearing a visitation sermon.[5][6] Conyers belonged to a circle around The Gospel Magazine, including John Berridge, Thomas Haweis, Martin Madan, and John Newton.[7]

In 1775, Conyers was brought to a Deptford church in 1775, by John Thornton, his brother-in-law; he converted parts of his home to build a chapel, and gave lectures four nights every week.[1][8] There Cornelius Bayley was a curate of his.[9] Conyers gained a reputation as a spiritual adviser, and associated with evangelicals including George Pattrick, William Romaine and Henry Venn.[1] A few years after Conyers had moved on from Helmsley, the area was one of those petitioning against the Papists Act 1778.[10]

John Wesley accepted an invitation to visit Conyers, coming on 17 April 1764 after discussion with Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.[11] He was, however, turned away by the housekeeper.[1] A couplet, from a poem sent by Augustus Toplady to Erasmus Middleton in 1775, imagines Wesley reciting a list of his Calvinist rivals:[12]

"There's Townsend, Shirley, Foster, Venn,
With Madan, Conyers and Romaine..."

Romaine was in Helmsley in 1766.[13]

Works

In 1767, Conyers published A Collection of Psalms and Hymns from Various Authors. At this period a number of evangelicals within the Church of England were compiling hymn books, and Conyers put his together to replace the use of metrical psalms and paraphrase singing by his own congregation.[1][14][15]

The Collection took much of its material from Martin Madan's similar work of 1760. Additions included hymns by William Cowper and John Newton.[14] Newton himself used the book for his "speaking on a hymn" in services.[16] A 14th edition appeared in 1841.[17] It proved influential, with Baptists in particular adopting hymns from the Collection, as well as from the Selection of John Rippon, to add to the repertoire handed down from Isaac Watts.[18]

The hymn tune "Helmsley" is named for the Yorkshire parish, the title having been given by Madan in his Collection, 1769 edition,[19] or possibly by Conyers himself.[20] There has been confusion over the provenance of the tune.[21]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Corrie, Leonard W. "Conyers, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/73210. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature: H-Re. John Wiley & Sons. 2012. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4051-8810-4.
  3. ↑ Judith Jago; Edward Royle (1999). The Eighteenth-century Church in Yorkshire: Archbishop Drummond's Primary Visitation of 1764. Borthwick Publications. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-903857-77-2.
  4. ↑ Judith Jago (1997). Aspects of the Georgian Church: Visitation Studies of the Diocese of York, 1761-1776. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8386-3692-3.
  5. ↑ Judith Jago (1997). Aspects of the Georgian Church: Visitation Studies of the Diocese of York, 1761-1776. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8386-3692-3.
  6. ↑ Richard Conyers (1764). The Operations of the Holy Ghost Considered: In a Sermon Preached Before His Grace Robert, by Divine Providence, Lord Archbishop of York, at His Primary Visitation Held at New-Malton, June 25th, 1764. By Richard Conyers ... Griffith Wright: and sold by Tessyman, at York; the booksellers of Malton, Scarborough, and E. Dilly, London.
  7. ↑ Hindmarsh, D. Bruce (1996). John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition. Grand Rapids/Cambridge UK: William B. Eerdmans. p. 265. ISBN 0802847412.
  8. ↑ L. Tyermann (1870). The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, Founder of the Methodists: By the Rev. L. Tyerman. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 337 note 1.
  9. ↑ Young, B. W. "Bayley, Cornelius". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1748. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  10. ↑ Colin Haydon (1993). Anti-Catholicism in Eighteenth-century England, C. 1714-80: A Political and Social Study. Manchester University Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-7190-2859-5.
  11. ↑ Frank Baker. John Wesley and the Church of England. Abingdon Press. p. 190.
  12. ↑ Wright, Thomas (1911). "Augustus M. Toplady and Contemporary Hymn Writers" (PDF). Farncombe & Son. p. 162. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  13. ↑ Romaine, William (1801). "Works of the late Reverend William Romaine". Internet Archive (2 ed.). London: Crosby and Letterman. p. 205. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  14. 1 2 John Julian (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology 1. John Murray. p. 332.
  15. ↑ Rebecca Lemon; Emma Mason; Jonathan Roberts; Christopher Rowland (28 February 2012). The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature. John Wiley & Sons. p. 493. ISBN 978-1-118-24115-8. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  16. ↑ Hindmarsh, D. Bruce (1996). John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition. Grand Rapids/Cambridge UK: William B. Eerdmans. p. 260. ISBN 0802847412.
  17. ↑ Richard Conyers) (1841). A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, from Various Authors; for the use of serious and devout Christians of every denomination (The fourteenth edition, revised and amended ed.). Thomas Wilson & Sons. p. 113.
  18. ↑ Mark A. Noll (30 April 2006). Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America. University of Alabama Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8173-5292-9.
  19. ↑ John Julian (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology 2. John Murray. p. 682.
  20. ↑ Mark Browse (11 November 2015). O Little Town. Lulu.com. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-326-29701-5.
  21. ↑  Grove, George, ed. (1900). "Lo, he comes with the clouds descending". A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan and Company.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.