James Edmeston (10 September 1791 – 7 January 1867) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
; he was also known as a prolific writer of
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s.
He was born in
Wapping
Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. His maternal grandfather was the Reverend
Samuel Brewer
Samuel Brewer (1670–1743), was an English botanist and contemporary of Dr. Richard Richardson. He is credited with discovering certain species of plant.
Life
Brewer was a native of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where he possessed a small estat ...
,
congregationalist pastor at
Stepney Meeting House
Stepney Meeting House was an independent church in Stepney, East London. It was founded in 1644 by Henry Barton and his wife, William Parker, John Odinsell, William Greenhill, and John Pococke, in the presence of Henry Burton (Puritan), Henry Burt ...
for 50 years. However, James was attracted to the Church of England and soon became an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
.
Architectural work
Edmeston began as an architect in 1816. He designed several structures in London, including drinking fountains and
St Paul's, Onslow Square
St Paul's, Onslow Square (known as Holy Trinity Brompton, HTB Onslow Square), is a listed building, Grade II listed Anglican church (building), church in Onslow Square, South Kensington, London, England. The church was built in 1860, and the archi ...
.
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
was his pupil, articled to Edmedston in 1827. In 1864 he built
Columbia Wharf,
Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...
, the first grain silo in a British port.
Literary work
Edmeston started by writing poetry publishing ''The Search, and other Poems'' in 1817.
Ecclesiastical and charity career
He served as the church warden at
St. Barnabas
Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Nam ...
in
Homerton
Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...
, Middlesex, and was a strong supporter of and frequent visitor to the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
Orphan Asylum
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abu ...
. Edmeston is said to have written 2000 hymns, one every Sunday.
[ His best-known hymn is the popular wedding hymn 'Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us / O'er the world's tempestuous sea'. The hymn has been set to several tunes, one of which, ''Mannheim'', is by German composer ]Friedrich Filitz
Friedrich Filitz (16 March 1804 – 8 December 1876) was a German composer and musicologist who collected church music from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Biography
Filitz was born in Arnstadt, County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, in 1804. He receive ...
.
He died in Homerton
Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...
in 1867.
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmeston, James
1791 births
1867 deaths
People from Wapping
People from the London Borough of Hackney
Architects from London
Christian hymnwriters
English hymnwriters
English Anglicans
19th-century English architects
19th-century English musicians