Background
William Hiley Bathurst was the son of the Rt. Honorary He was born at Cleve Dale, Mangotsfield, near Bristol, August 28, 1796. His mother was Charlotte Addington and his maternal grandmother"s was Hiley, thus his middle name.
William Hiley Bathurst was the son of the Rt. Honorary He was born at Cleve Dale, Mangotsfield, near Bristol, August 28, 1796. His mother was Charlotte Addington and his maternal grandmother"s was Hiley, thus his middle name.
Bathurst was educated at Winchester at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating as Bachelor of Arts in 1818.
Charles Bragge. In 1819 he was ordained deacon and in the following year he was ordained a priest. In 1820 he was presented by his kinsman, Henry, Third Earl of Bathurst, to the Rectory of Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire, and continued there as rector for thirty-two years. In 1852 he resigned the rectory because of conscientious scruples in relation to parts of the baptismal and burial services in the Book of Common Prayer.
He retired into private life and first lived at Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire, where for eleven years he gave himself to literary pursuits.
He moved to Lydney Park soon afterward and died there on November 25, 1877. During his early years of ministry, Bathurst composed hymns and versified a large portion of the psalms.
These were published, 1830, in a small volume entitled Psalms and for Public and Private Use. All but 18 of the 150 psalms and all the 206 hymns in this volume are his.
Hark! the distant isles proclaim
Holy Spirit from on high
Jesus, thy Church with longing eyes
Eternal Spirit, by whose power
O for a faith that will not shrink
O Saviour, may we never rest, Till Thou art formed within.
