T. Bilby › Tunes

Bilby, Thomas , son of John Bilby, born at Southampton, April 18, 1794. In 1809 he joined the army, remaining eight years. Subsequently he studied the Infant School System under Buchanan, whose school at Brewer's Green, Westminster, is said to have been the first Infants' School opened in England. In 1825 he obtained the charge of a Training School at Chelsea, where some 500 teachers were instructed in his system. In 1832 he proceeded to the West Indies, where he introduced his system of teaching. On returning to England, he became the parish clerk of St. Mary's, Islington. He died Sept. 24, 1872. He was one of the founders of "The Home and Colonial Infant School Society." Jointly with Mr. R. B. Ridgway he published The Nursery Book,The Infant Teacher's Assistant, 1831-32; and the Book of Quadrupeds , 1838. His hymns appeared in The Infant Teacher's Assistant, the best known of which is, "Here we suffer grief and pain."

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)