William St. Hill Bourne

William St. Hill Bourne was an English clergyman, poet, and hymn writer whose ministry spanned several influential decades in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in 1846, he received his formal education at Merchant Taylors' School before completing his theological training at the London College of Divinity. He entered Holy Orders in 1869, initiating a lifelong clerical career within the Church of England.

Bourne spent his early ministry serving several successive curacies, which included appointments at Holy Trinity in Derby, Harrow-on-the-Hill, St. Paul's in St. Leonards-on-Sea, and Ashford in Kent. His pastoral leadership grew significantly when he was appointed Vicar of Pinner, Middlesex, in 1875. This was followed by his appointment as Vicar of All Saints, Haggerston, in 1880, and later as Rector of Finchley in 1900, a position he held into the twentieth century. He died in 1929 at the age of eighty-three.

Beyond his regular parish duties, Bourne was deeply involved in religious journalism, social outreach, and publication. In 1875, he published "Church Work and the Working Classes" through the periodical Church Bells, reflecting his concern for the spiritual and material welfare of the working community. His editorial skills were utilized starting in 1879 when he became the editor of The Mission Field, a notable periodical published by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

As a literary figure, Bourne contributed poems to various contemporary periodicals, but his most enduring legacy remains his hymnody. He published A Supplementary Hymnal in 1898, which gathered nineteen of his hymns that had previously appeared across The Church Monthly and other church publications. His compositions were frequently adapted for specialized services, child audiences, and specific church societies, such as his 1885 hymn written for the Church Purity Society and printed in The Vanguard.

Several of Bourne's hymns achieved widespread popularity and were incorporated into premier hymnals of the era, notably the revised editions of Hymns Ancient & Modern. Among his most recognizable works are "Christ, Who once among us" (also rendered as "Christ, who once amongst us"), a widely used children's hymn focusing on the imagery of the Good Shepherd, and "The Sower went forth sowing." Originally written in 1874 for a Harvest Festival at Christ Church in South Ashford, Kent, "The Sower went forth sowing" crossed over into wider liturgical usage, frequently serving as a reflective funeral hymn due to its dual focus on harvest and mortality.