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 ...

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 ...

; 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 * Chri ...

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 county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

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 ...

. His maternal grandfather was the Reverend Samuel Brewer, 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, vicar at St Matth ...

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 t ...

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 HTB Onslow Square), is a Grade II listed Anglican church in Onslow Square, South Kensington, London, England. The church was built in 1860, and the architect was James Edmeston. Hanmer William Webb-Peploe (1837� ...

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 D ...

, the first grain silo in a British port. Fountain behind Royal Exchange

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 ...

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, i ...

, Middlesex, and was a strong supporter of and frequent visitor to the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

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 a ...

. 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 recei ...

. He died in

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