John Purchas

You help make Hymnary.org possible.

In 2025, more than 10 million people from 200+ countries found hymns, liturgical resources, and encouragement here. If Hymnary has meant something to you this year, would you take a moment to help sustain it? A gift of any size — and a note of encouragement, if you'd like to share one — directly supports the server costs, research, and curation that keep this resource freely available to the world.

Give securely online today, or mail a check to:
Hymnary.org (c/o Calvin University)
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546

Thank you for being part of this important online ministry resource.

Click here to donate to Hymnary.org I have already donated. Please don't show this to me again

Short Name:	John Purchas
Full Name:	Purchas, John, 1823-1872
Birth Year:	1823
Death Year:	1872

Purchas, John, M.A., was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1844) and became in 1866 the Minister of St. James's, Brighton. The prosecution which he underwent in connection with his ritual observances, is matter of history. His hymn in the St. Margaret's Hymnal (East Grinstead), "Evensong is hushed in silence" (Evening), was written for St. James's, Brighton, circa 1866, and was pub. with music by J. E. Roe. It is a hymn full of hopefulness with a sad undercurrent of weariness and pain. Mr. Purchas was born in Cambridge in 1823, and died Oct. 18, 1872.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Texts Tunes Hymnals Recommendations