Robert Walmsley

Walmsley, Robert, was b. at Manchester March 18, 1831, went to Sale in 1870, where he was till 1904 in business as a jeweller, and d. at Sale Oct. 30, 1905. He was a Congregationalist, and was for 28 years connected with the work of the Manchester Sunday School Union, many of his hymns being written for the annual Whitweek Festival. He published 44 of them, with a preface dated Dec. 1900, as Sacred Songs for Children of all Ages. They are simple, musical, full of a deep love of God, of the works of God in nature, and of little children, and deserve to be more extensively used. The best-known of the longer hymns are:—
1. O praise our God to-day; Ye people haste to pay. [Praise to God.] Dated 1899, and included in his Sacred Songs, &c, 1900, No. 25.
2. Praise the Lord, His works exalt Him. [Praise to God.] Dated 1888. In his Sacral Songs, &c, 1900, No. 31.
3. The sun declines, o'er land and sea. [Evening,] Dated 1893. In his Sacred Songs, Dec., 1900, No. 38. It was given in the Scotch Church Hymnary, 1898.
For these biographical details and dates we are indebted to the author's daughter. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)