William Cooke

Cooke, William, M.A., was born at Pendlebury, near Manchester, in 1821, and was educated in private schools. In 1839 he went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and took his B.A. degree in 1843, and his M.A. in 1847. Ordained Deacon in 1844, and Priest in 1845, by the Bishop [Blomfield] of London, and having served the Assistant Curacies of Hillingdon, near Uxbridge, and of Myholt and Brantham in Suffolk, he was presented, in 1848, to the Incumbency of St. John's, Charlotte Street, London; in 1850, to the Vicarage of St. Stephen's, Shepherd's Bush; and in 1856, to the Vicarage of Gazeley, Suffolk. In 1850, he was a Select Preacher to the University of Cambridge; and from 1849 to 1857, Examining Chaplain to the Bishop [Graham] of Chester, by whom he was made Honorary Canon of Chester in 1854. In 1868 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is the author of The Power of the Priesthood in Absolution, in 1863; Of Ceremonies, Lights and Custom (a Letter to the Rev. T. W. Perry), and various Sermons. In 1849, he issued a Book of Hymns for the use of the Congregation worshipping at St. John's, Charlotte Street, London; in 1853 was joint editor with the Rev. William Denton of The Church Hymnal; and in 1872 was associated with the Rev. Benjamin Webb, Prebendary of St. Paul's, in the editorship of The Hymnary. For that collection he translated and composed several hymns, his signature in some cases being " A. C. C.," i.e. "A Canon of Chester."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)