Almighty Father, hear our cry

Author: Edward Henry Bickersteth

Bickersteth, Edward Henry, D.D., son of Edward Bickersteth, Sr. born at Islington, Jan. 1825, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. with honours, 1847; M.A., 1850). On taking Holy Orders in 1848, he became curate of Banningham, Norfolk, and then of Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells. His preferment to the Rectory of Hinton-Martell, in 1852, was followed by that of the Vicarage of Christ Church, Hampstead, 1855. In 1885 he became Dean of Gloucester, and the same year Bishop of Exeter. Bishop Bickersteth's works, chiefly poetical, are:— (l) Poems, 1849; (2) Water from the Well-spring, 1852; (3) The Rock of Ages, 1858 ; (4) Commentary on the New Testament, 1864; (5) Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever, 1867; (6) The Spirit of Life, 1868;… Go to person page >

Lord of the ocean, hear our cry. Bishop E. H. Bickersteth. [For Use at Sea.] Written in 1869 and first published in his Hymnal Companion, 1870; No. 392, as a hymn to be used at sea, with the note in the Annotated edition, "This hymn, by the Editor, was written for this work. It is to be sung by those at sea; the one which follows [‘Eternal Father, strong to save'] is for those at sea," In the Hymnal Companion, 1870, and the revised edition, 1876, Bp. Bickersteth's hymn begins, "Almighty Father, hear our cry," Its original form as "Lord of the ocean, hear our cry," is in Bp. Bickersteth's Two Brothers, 1871, p. 249.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)