Joseph Williams (c. 1800–1834) was an English

coal miner Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

and composer of sacred music, known today as

West gallery music West gallery music, also known as Georgian psalmody, refers to the sacred music ( metrical psalms, with a few hymns and anthems) sung and played in Church of England parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850. I ...

. Very little is known about his life, other than he lived in Watery Lane,

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

, Staffordshire. During his short lifetime he published a collection of his compositions, ''Sacred Music'' (Tipton: for the Author, c. 1830), containing 20

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

s. He met an unfortunate death in a mining-related accident on the

Himley Himley is a small village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, west of Dudley and southwest of Wolverhampton. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 802. Himley Hall was the home of the Lords of Dudley. History Himley parish b ...

Road,

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

, on 14 April 1834. He was walking along the road near to a mine pit, and an explosion taking place threw a large rock into the air which killed him instantly. The pit's owners, Messrs. Horton, were not penalised for the accident.''

Berrow's Worcester Journal ''Berrow's Worcester Journal'' is a weekly freesheet tabloid newspaper, based in Worcester, England. Owned by Newsquest, the newspaper is delivered across central and southern Worcestershire. History 16th century printing press Worcester was ...

'', 24 April 1834 A second collection of his music, ''The Celestial Chorister'' (London: Joseph Hart, c. 1835), was published posthumously, as the title page states, to raise money for his widow and 6 children. The collection is unusual in that 12 of the hymns take their titles from the 12 signs of the

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

References

External links

West Gallery Music Association
* * , hymn sung by Stream of Sound Choir * , hymn sung by Stream of Sound Choir {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joseph 1800s births 1834 deaths People from Tipton English hymnwriters English miners English classical composers of church music 19th-century English classical composers 19th-century English musicians