John Wilkes

WILKES, John. dates unknown, perhaps 1823-1882. John Wilkes is given as the arranger of MONKLAND, the tune named after the village in Herefordshire of which Sir Henry Williams Baker* was squire and vicar. It was set in the First Edition of A&M (1861) and in subsequent editions to Baker’s ‘Praise, O praise our God and King’*. The tune had been composed by John Antes*, and had appeared in a Moravian book, The Hymn Tunes of the Church of the Brethren (1824), compiled by John Lees (1773-1839) and set to a hymn beginning ‘What good news the angels bring’ by William Hammond*. It is now frequently associated with John Milton*’s ‘Let us with a gladsome mind’*. Wilkes contributed one other tune...