This is the day of Light. J. Ellerton. [Sunday.] Written in 1867, and first published in Hymns for Special Services and Festivals in Chester Cathedral, a collection of 100 hymns, compiled by Dean Howson, 1867 (Chester: Phillipson & Golder), No. 51, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. From thence it passed into the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871; Thring's Collection, 1882, and several other hymnals both in Great Britain and America. It is a good hymn, and ranks in popularity with some of the best of Mr. Ellerton's compositions.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
===================
This is the day of Light, p. 1165, i. In the 1904 ed. of Hymns Ancient & Modern, an additional stanza, "This is the day of Bread," is given. Canon Ellerton's revised and authorized text is No. 37 in Church Hymns, 1903. It does not contain this stanza.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
John Ellerton (b. London, England, 1826; d. Torquay, Devonshire, England, 1893) Educated at King William's College on the Isle of Man and at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1851. He served six parishes, spending the longest time in Crewe Green (1860-1872), a church of steelworkers and farmers. Ellerton wrote and translated about eighty hymns, many of which are still sung today. He helped to compile Church Hymns and wrote its handbook, Notes and Illustrations to Church Hymns (1882). Some of his other hymn texts were published in The London Mission Hymn Book (1884).
Bert Polman… Go to person page >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files