Crossman, Samuel

(?1624-1684)

   A clergyman, educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1660. He was ejected from the rectory of Little Henny in Essex in 1662 because he wanted to have the Book of Common Prayer adapted to suit Puritans as well as Anglicans. Subsequently he conformed and became one of the king's chaplains, was appointed to a post in Bristol, and succeeded to the deanery of Bristol in 1683. After his death a broadsheet appeared under the title The Last Testimony and Declaration of the Rev. Samuel Crossman, D.D., and Dean of Bristol, setting forth his dutiful and true affection to the Church of England, as by law established. In 1664 he published The Young Man's Meditation, or Some Few Sacred Poems upon Select Subjects, and Scriptures. Some of these poems have been set to music as hymns; one such is "My Song is Love Unknown," which appears in many current hymnbooks. Some of his other hymns and poems: "I Said Sometimes with Tears," "Farewell, Poor World, I Must Be Gone," "Jerusalem on High," "My Life's a Shade, My Days," "Sweet Place."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm).