Thomas Toke Lynch (1818–1871) was an English nonconformist minister and hymn-writer.

Life

The son of John Burke Lynch, a surgeon, he was born at

Great Dunmow Great Dunmow is a historic market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is situated on the north of the A120 road, approximately midway between Bishop's Stortford and Braintree, five miles east of London Stanst ...

, Essex, 5 July 1818. He was educated at a school in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, where he then became an usher (teaching assistant). In 1841 he became a Sunday school teacher and district visitor, occasionally preaching and giving lectures on

sight-singing In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

and

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

. In 1843 Lynch entered Highbury Independent College, but then shortly withdrew, largely for health reasons. He was pastor of Highgate Independent Church 1847–9, and of a congregation in

Mortimer Street Mortimer Street is a street in the City of Westminster. It runs from the junction of Cavendish Place, Langham Place, and Regent Street in the west, to the junction of Cleveland Street, Goodge Street, and Newman Street in the east. It is join ...

, which migrated to Grafton Street,

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian square in London. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding district to be known as Fitzroy Square or Fitzro ...

, 1849–52. In 1852 he delivered a course of lectures on literature at the Royal Institution, Manchester. In failing health, Lynch resigned his charge in 1856, but resumed it in 1860 in Gower Street, pending the opening of Mornington Church, a new structure in the Hampstead Road, where he ministered to his death on 9 May 1871. Lynch's congregations were small, and he was not liked as a preacher. The church was pulled down in 1888, for the enlargement of

Euston Station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

Works

Lynch is best known for his ''Hymns for Heart and Voice: The Rivulet'', first issued in 1855 (2nd edit. 1856, 3rd edit. 1868). They were criticised as

pantheistic Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...

and theologically unsound: the ''Rivulet'' controversy ensued. Lynch himself replied to his opponents in ''The Ethics of Quotation'', and in a pamphlet of

doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...

verse, entitled ''Songs Controversial'' (both London, 1856, and issued under the pseudonym "Silent Long"). An account of the controversy is given in his ''Memoir''. Nine of Lynch's hymns were included in the ''Congregational Church Hymnal'' (London, 1887). ''Lift up your heads, rejoice'', ''All faded is the glowing light'', and ''Where is thy God, my soul?'' are still known. He was the author of several prose works, as well as lectures, addresses, sermons, controversial tracts, and magazine articles: *''Thoughts on a Day'' (1844). *''Memorials of Theophilus Trinal'' (1850). *''Essays on some of the Forms of Literature'' (1863). *''Sermons to my Curates'', edited by the Rev. Samuel Cox (1871). *''Letters, etc., contributed to "Christian Spectator," 1855-6'' (1872). He was a musician, and composed ''Tunes to Hymns in the "Rivulet,"'' twenty-five of which, edited by Thomas Pettit, were published after Lynch's death under that title (London, 1872), with a preface signed "Theodore Burkeson" found among Lynch's papers. His portrait appears in his ''Memoir of Thomas Toke Lynch'' (1874), editor William White.

Family

In September 1849, Lynch married a daughter of the Rev. Edward Porter of Highgate.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Thomas Toke 1818 births 1871 deaths English Congregationalist ministers English hymnwriters People from Essex