William John Hall

Hall, William John, M.A., was born in London, Dec. 31, 1793, and graduated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Taking Holy Orders, he held several important appointments, including a Minor Canonry in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, 1826; Priest in Ordinary of H.M. Chapel Royal, St. James's, 1829, and the Vicarage of Tottenham, Middlesex, 1851. He died at Tottenham, Dec. 16, 1861. He published various Sermons, a volume of Prayers for the Use of Families; and a valuable treatise on Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead. He is known to hymnology as the editor of Psalms and Hymns adapted to the Services of the Church of England, London, 1836, commonly known as the Mitre Hymn-book, from the impression of a Mitre on the cover. He was assisted in this work by E. Osier (q.v.) and others, who supplied original compositions. Many of the hymns were previously printed in the Christian Remembrancer, of which he was sometime the editor, and then the editor and sole proprietor. The Mitre Hymn-Book, issued in 1836, with a dedication to Bishop Blomfield, attained to a circulation of four million copies. It introduced numerous hymns to modern collections, and had a marked influence on the hymnody of the Church of England. In this Dictionary all notes on hymns specially connected with the Mitre Hymn-book are from Mr. Hall's manuscript, and distinguished as "h. mss." His son, the Rev. William John Hall, M.A. (born March 17, 1830, and educated at Merchant Taylors School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge; Minor Canon in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and Rector of St. Clement's, Eastcheap, with St. Martin-Orgar, London), is the editor of the New Mitre Hymnal, Adapted to the Services of the Church of England, London, 1875. (Preface, Advent, 1874.)

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)