William W. Walford, or W.W. Walford

WALFORD, William W. b. 1772; d. 1850; or W.W. Walford, dates unknown. The hymn for which one of these was responsible, ‘Sweet hour of prayer’*, has become famous in many countries, but there is no certainty about the authorship. The most convincing account is that of the Reverend Thomas Salmon (1800-1854), who emigrated to the USA in 1842. Previously Salmon had been a Congregational minister at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, where he described W.W. Walford as a blind man and an exceptionally able preacher. Salmon published the following note with the hymn in The New York Observer, 13 September 1845:  During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted with...