The Happy Meeting

Author: Thomas Bilby

Bilby, Thomas , son of John Bilby, born at Southampton, April 18, 1794. In 1809 he joined the army, remaining eight years. Subsequently he studied the Infant School System under Buchanan, whose school at Brewer's Green, Westminster, is said to have been the first Infants' School opened in England. In 1825 he obtained the charge of a Training School at Chelsea, where some 500 teachers were instructed in his system. In 1832 he proceeded to the West Indies, where he introduced his system of teaching. On returning to England, he became the parish clerk of St. Mary's, Islington. He died Sept. 24, 1872. He was one of the founders of "The Home and Colonial Infant School Society." Jointly with Mr. R. B. Ridgway he published The Nursery Book,The Inf… Go to person page >

Here we suffer grief and pain. T. Bilby. Heaven anticipated.] Published in The Infant School Teachers’ Assistant, 1832, in 6 stanzas of 3 lines, with the refrain, "O that will be joyful." Although suited in sentiment more to the aged than the young, yet mainly through the tune to which it is set and the refrain, it has become a very popular hymn with children, and is in extensive use in Sunday schools. Authorised text from the author's manuscript in Lyra Britannica, 1867, p. 62.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)