Luke Connaughton

CONNAUGHTON, Luke. b. Bolton, Lancashire, 2 June 1917; d. Oulton, near Stone, Staffordshire, 2 Sept 1979. Born into a Roman Catholic family, Connaughton was destined for the priesthood, but abandoned his vocation and became a journalist. He was closely associated with the firm of McCrimmon, for whom he edited Sing a New Song to the Lord (Great Wakering, Essex, 1970). In this book 33 texts by him were included, some with the pseudonyms ‘Peter Icarus’ and ‘J. Smith’. After his death many of his hymns were printed in the McCrimmon Complete Celebration Hymnal (Southend, 1991). They include a carol, ‘The shepherds in the hills’, a paraphrase of Psalm 42, ‘Like the deer that yearns for water’,...