William Henry Havergal (18 January 1793?19 April 1870) was an Anglican clergyman, writer, composer and hymnwriter, and a publisher of sermons and pamphlets. He was the father of the hymn-writer and poet Frances Ridley Havergal and the clergyman and organist Henry East Havergal (1820?1875).
Havergal was born in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he gained a BA in 1815 and an MA in 1819. He was ordained deacon in 1816 and priest in 1817, and became rector of Astley in Worcestershire in 1829, St. Nicholas, Worcester in 1842 and Shareshill near Wolverhampton in 1860. He died at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and is buried at Astley.
On 14 June 1829 he was thrown out of a carriage and received concussion of the brain, which disabled him for some years. He found relief in music. His first public composition was an anthem-like setting of Heber's From Greenland's Icy Mountains, the proceeds of which (180l.) he devoted to the Church Missionary Society. In 1836 appeared Op. 36, An Evening Service in E flat and One Hundred Antiphonal Chants. One of these, a Recte et Retro chant in C, sometimes called Worcester chant, became very widely known. In the same year the Gresham prize medal was awarded him for an Evening Service in A, Op. 37. In 1841 a second medal was gained by an anthem, Give Thanks, Op. 40.
He became well known by his exertions for the restoration of metrical psalmody to its original purity. He published in 1844 a reprint of Ravenscroft's scarce work, 'The Whole Booke of Psalmes'. In 1847 he brought out the 'Old Church Psalmody', Op. 43, which is the parent of most modern collections of church hymn tunes. 'A Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes', Op. 48, entirely his own composition, was published in 1859. Handel and Corelli were his models, and his aim was to preserve purity of style.
He also wrote songs, rounds, and catches for the young, besides carols, hymns, and sacred songs, for which he composed both words and music. Many of the sacred songs and carols appeared in the earlier volumes of 'Our Own Fireside', and were republished under the title of 'Fireside Music'. His sacred song Summer Tide is Coming and his psalm tune 'Evan' are widely known.
On 13 Nov. 1829 he was presented to the rectory of Astley, whence he removed in June 1845 to St. Nicholas rectory, Worcester, and was soon after appointed an honorary canon of Worcester Cathedral. He all but lost his sight in 1832, and it was never entirely restored. For a long time he could not read printed music or decipher his own handwriting.
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