Dates

• Existence: 4 November 1771 - 30 April 1854

Biography

James Montgomery, hymn-writer, poet and editor, was born in Irvine, Ayrshire, on 4 November 1771. He was the second of the four children of John Montgomery (1734–1791), and his wife, Mary, née Blackley (d. 1790). Both of his parents were part of the Moravian church and had moved to Irvine from Ireland where his father had been appointed minister of the Moravian congregation, just before James’s birth.

James attended a Moravian school in Fulneck, near Leeds, from 1777 onwards. He last saw his parents before they travelled as missionaries to Barbados in 1783, and they died within a year of each other there around 1790. He began an apprenticeship with a shopkeeper in 1787, but left for London to attempt to have his writing published. After this was unsuccessful he returned to the Sheffield area, and was appointed clerk and bookkeeper in the office of the weekly paper the Sheffield Register in 1792. Editor Joseph Gales used the paper to promote radical reformist ideas of the time, which included the abolition of slavery, educational improvements, canal building, and removal of legal constraints on religious dissenters. In 1794 Gales fled to America to escape prosecution by the government and the paper was taken over by Montgomery. He relaunched the paper as the Sheffield Iris, taking a less radical approach; this did not protect him from prosecution however, and he was imprisoned twice in York Prison in 1795 and 1796 for sedition and malicious libel.

Montgomery also established a successful publishing and printing business which enabled him to live comfortably at The Mount, along with Gales's three sisters. He sold the paper in 1825, his main focus having been his poetry, hymns and reviews for many years. He dedicated the rest of his life to his writing, correspondence and friendships, as well as many philanthropic causes in Sheffield. These included supporting the abolition of the slave trade and the betterment of conditions for sweeps' climbing boys, and education through Sunday schools, a working men's library, and new schools.

His poetry includes The Wanderer of Switzerland of 1806, based on the French conquest of Switzerland, which attracted public attention and brought him a commission to write a poem on the abolition of the slave trade - The West Indies (1809), which gained great popularity. Later poems included The World before the Flood (1812), Greenland (1819) and The Pelican Island (1826). He also produced numerous hymns, including 'Angels from the Realms of Glory', 'Hail to the Lord’s Anointed' and 'Songs of Praise the Angels Sang'.

Montgomery lived in Sheffield for 62 of his 83 years, and in later years was considered a local hero, as well as being respected nationally. He died on 30th April 1854, and was honoured with a public funeral on 11th May. A monument designed by John Bell stood over his grave in the Sheffield Cemetery, and now stands beside Sheffield Cathedral.

Source: ODNB Entry for James Montgomery, ODNB Entry for Joseph Gales.

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