Albert Midlane

MIDLANE, Albert. b. Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, 23 January 1825; d. Newport, Isle of Wight, 27 February 1909. He was educated at Newport, Isle of Wight, and contributed to magazines in his youth under the name ‘Little Albert’. He was then employed as an ironmonger's assistant, ultimately going into business for himself as tinsmith and ironmonger. Though he received his religious training in the Congregational church and its Sunday school, in which he became a teacher, he subsequently joined the Plymouth Brethren. Midlane began writing hymns in 1842; the first widely used one, ‘God bless our Sunday schools’ (sung to the tune of the British national anthem), was written in 1844. The hymn for...