Lynch, Thomas Toke

(1818-1871)

   Born at Dunmow, Essex, son of surgeon, he was educated at a school in Islington, London. He was pastor of Highgate Independent Church 1847-1849 and Mornington Church, in the Hampstead Road, although he labored at his task, was never a popular preacher, and was never in good health. Known as a hymn writer, he also wrote some hundred poems, not all with religious themes; however, some of his hymns-which expressed an admiration for nature-were criticized as being too theologically unsound to be suitable for public worship. He was a cultured musician and composed several tunes to his own hymns. He published several prose works, and he produced Hymns for Heart and Voice: The Rivulet in 1855 (third edition 1868), and Songs Controversial (issued under the pseudonym "Silent Long") in 1856. Some of his poems: "Chestnut Roasting," "Egg-Shell," "Sunshine," "The Poet Warned," "The Singer," "The Vine," "Trust." Some of his hymn/poems: "Christ in His Word Draws Near," "Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me," "Lift Up Your Heads, Rejoice," "Lord, on Thy Returning Day," "My Faith, It is an Oaken Staff."

   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 Best Loved Religious Poems. James Gilchrist Lawson, ed. Fleming H. Revell, 1933. 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). The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. Oxford University Press, 1971. The Treasury of Christian Poetry. Lorraine Eitel, ed. Fleming H. Revell, 1982.