SABINE BARING-GOULD

Evening Star, Issue 23699, 5 October 1940, Page 4

SABINE BARING-GOULD

FAMOUS NOVELIST'S GIFT TO POSTERITY

When the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould wrote ‘ Onward, Christian Soldiers ’ 75 years ago this year he did not know that he had produced a masterpiece. He little suspected that his hastilywritten poem, contrived for an obscure village festival, was to become the Marseillaise of embattled righteousness. Hd could not foresee that his impromptu stanzas —which later were set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan—eventually would be sung by millions, in scores of languages, and in every hanjjlet of the English-speaking world. Nevertheless these amazing things did come to pass, and Barmg-Gould lived to see the day. (Ho died in 1924 at the age of 90.) Across the decades ‘ Onward, Christian Soldiers ’ has acquired meaning, popularity, and influence; it belongs to the vocabulary of Christian believers, just like ‘ Rock of Ages ’ and 1 Abide With Me.’ It has played its part in evangelism, in war. and in politics. From its obscure birthplace—Horbury, England—it has winged its way to the farthest ends of the earth. The Rough Riders sang it in Cuba. During the Boxer Rebellion it was shouted by the allied troops as they marched upon Peking to relieve thd besieged legations. General Allenby’s soldiers sang it in December of 1917 in the streets of Jerusalem. British soldiers sing it today whenever church parade is held. But the hymn was not always sung as it is heard to-day. The tune used first was that written by H. Smart and known as ‘ Brightly Gleams Our Banner.’ The words were first included in a collection called ‘ Church Hymns With Tunes,’ edited by Sir Arthur Sullivan, for which he wrote a large number of tunes, including that for ‘ Oniviird. Clii’istinn Soldiers.’

The author of_ this song was an Englishman of family, who defied custom by marrying a factory girl. Poet, historian, novelist, and globe-trotter, he wrote almost a hundred volumes, many of them marked by imagination and power. His interests ranged from Icelandic sagas to Talmudic legends, from fairies to philosophy, from social justice to hymnology. Other hymns also came from his pen. and that wistful twilight song ‘ Now the Day is Over.’