William Staughton

Staughton, William. (Coventry, Warwickshire, England, January 4, 1770--December 12, 1829, Washington, D.C.). Baptist. Son of Sutton and Keziah Staughton. Bristol College, 1792; honorary D.D. from Princeton College, 1798. Pastorates at Georgetown, South Carolina, 1793-1795; Bordentown, New Jersey, 1795-1798; Burlington, N.J., 1798-1805; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1805-1823. In 1782 he published a volume of Juvenile Poems. The hymn "Pardoning Love" which was included in that collection, begins "Involved in guilt and near despair/Depressed with shame, o'erwhelmed with tears."

Throughout his career, Staughton continued to give expression to his thoughts in verse. One of his hymns, "Tell us, ye servants of the Lord," is found in Select Hymns (Linsley and Davis, 1841) and other collections. The following hymn was written by Staughton to be sung to the tune of the "Marseilles Hymn":

Ye sons of God awake in Glory
A host of foes before you lies.

In 1827, Staughton edited Woodward's revised and corrected edition of Dr. Rippon's Selection with the names of the tunes adapted to the hymns, and an appendix from the Olney Hymns, with additional hymns, original and selected.

Memoir was published in 1834 by his son-in-law Rev. S.W. Lynd, D.D.

--Alan Wingard, DNAH Archives