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The ICCM Journal | Summer 2022 | V90 No. 2
pulpit: my song An article on the life of Samuel Crossman who wrote the poem 'My song is love unknown'. Samuel Crossman (1623 -1683) was a priest of the Church of England and a hymn writer. He was born at Bradfield Monachorum, now known as Bradfield St George, Suffolk, England. Crossman achieved the degree of Bachelor of Divinity at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge and after serving a term as Vicar of All Saints Church in Sudbury, was appointed as a Prebendary of Bristol Cathedral. After graduation, he ministered to both an Anglican congregation at All Saints, Sudbury, and to a Puritan congregation simultaneously. Crossman sympathised with the Puritan cause, and attended the 1661 Savoy Conference, which attempted to update the Book of Common Prayer so that both Puritans and Anglicans could use it. The conference failed, and the 1662 Act of Uniformity expelled Crossman along with some 2,000 other Puritan-leaning ministers from the Church of England. He renounced his Puritan affiliations shortly afterwards, and was The sign outside the church in Sudbury, Suffolk ordained in 1665, becoming a royal chaplain. He received a post at Bristol in 1667, and became Dean of Bristol Cathedral in 1683. He died on 4 February 1683 at Bristol, and lies buried in the south aisle of the cathedral at Bristol. The words of the hymn “My song is love unknown” are overwhelmingly beautiful and fit the Christian view of Jesus to a tee. They attracted the attention of hymnbook compilers including Percy Dearmer,(1867-1936) (pictured right) who championed Samuel Crossman’s poems and included them in hymn book collections. He was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of The Parson’s Handbook and The English Hymnal. He was also the third vicar of the parish of St Mary’s, Primrose Hill in north London.
The gravestone of Percy Dearmer in Westminster Abbey.
A photo of Percy Dearmer
