Albert Durrant Watson › Recommendations

Watson, Albert Durrant. (Dixie, Ontario, January 8, 1859--May 3, 1926, Toronto, Ont.). Methodist. Victoria University, M.D., C.M., 1883; Edinburgh, P.R.C.P., 1883. While practising medicine in Toronto, he published nine books of prose and verse, culminating in Poetical Works (1924), and served on the compilation committee of the 1917, Methodist Hymn and Tune Book. For it, he wrote "Lord of the lands" to fit Calixa Lavallee's tune for "O Canada", since no English version of its French words had yet to gain general acceptance, and its Quebec origin worked against its use in Protestant churches. His words were widely used on patriotic occasions for the next fifty years, but only in church services, never in state celebrations.

--Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives