More Voices Found: Bessie Porter Head

Elizabeth Ann Porter was born in Belfast on January 1, 1850. Very little is known about her younger life, but at some point she became involved with the Young Women's Christian Association and was the secretary of the Swansea branch in 1894. From 1897 to 1907 she served with the South Africa General Mission in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Johannesburg, helping to found South African branches of the YWCA. In 1907 she married the chairman of the SAGM, Albert Alfred Head, and returned to England. She and her husband, both evangelical Anglicans, were also members of the annual Keswick Convention.

Bessie, as she was known, wrote much religious verse as well as prose articles about her missionary experiences for the publications of the Convention and the SAGM. A collection of her verses, Heavenly Places and other Messages (1920) contained this one, a renewal hymn by a New Year baby.

O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,
Revive your church with life and power;
O Breath of Life, come, heal, renew us,
Prepare our hearts to meet this hour.

O Wind of God, come thrill us, wake us,
Till humbly we confess our need;
Then in your tenderness remake us,
Revive, restore, for this we plead.

O Breath of Love, come breathe within us,
Renewing thought and will and heart;
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,
Strengthen us now in every part.

O Heart of Christ, once broken for us,
Where we shall find our strength and rest;
Our broken, contrite hearts now solace,
And let our waiting souls be blest.

Revive us, God! Is zeal abating
While harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, God, the world is waiting,
Help us go forth to spread the light.

Bessie Porter Head, 1920; alt.
Tune: SPIRITUS VITAE (9.8.9.8.)
Mary Jane Hammond, 1920

Bessie continued to write religious verse until her death in 1936. More of her hymns appeared in the Keswick Hymn Book (1937). Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about composer Mary Jane Hammond.

More Voices Found: Ada Rose Gibbs

Back on January 30 (you can look it up) I wrote about Voices Found, a 2003 hymnal from Church Publishing. To quote from their description of the book, it is "a unique compilation of contemporary and historical materials that crosses boundaries of geography, time, and culture as it represents the diversity of the gifts of women and seeks to affirm and expand the spirituality of all women and men as they find new voices in the church's song." (whew!)

Particularly, I'm interested in the historical aspect, and in exploring things which were left out of that volume. It's a theme I intend to revisit, and I'm sorry to have been so long in getting back to it. Today's hymn is at the top of my list of things that should have been included.

Ada Rose, who died on April 16 in 1905, was a professional singer who studied at the Royal College of Music. She married William James Gibbs in 1898, after the end of her singing career and they were apparently involved in the Keswick Convention. She wrote the music, a tune called CHANNELS, for this hymn.

How I praise thee, precious Savior,

That thy love laid hold of me;

Thou hast saved and healed and filled me

That I might thy channel be.

Refrain:

Channels only, blessèd Savior,

But with all thy wondrous power

Flowing through us, thou canst use us

Every day and every hour.

Emptied that thou shouldest fill me,

A clean vessel in thy hand;

With no power but as thou givest

Graciously with each command.

Refrain

Witnessing thy power to save me,

Setting free from self and sin;

Thou who bought me to release me,

In thy fullness, O come in.

Refrain

Jesus, fill now with thy Spirit

Hearts that full surrender know;
That the streams of living water
From my inner self may flow.

Refrain

Mary E. Maxwell, c. 1900; alt.

Tune: CHANNELS (8.7.8.7. with refrain)

Ada Rose Gibbs, c. 1900

This is a very accessible tune, kind of midway between a "standard" hymn tune and a gospel song. A congregation will pick it up quickly. Obviously I don't know why it was left out of Voices Found, or even if it was considered, but its omission is unfortunate. Gibbs and Maxwell also collaborated on another hymn, The way of the cross means sacrifice.

I've seen the above photo any number of times at the Cyber Hymnal site and thought that Gibbs was dressed a bit oddly. I was pretty surprised to learn in researching this post that she was appearing as Katisha in The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. She sang with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1885 and 1890, both on tour and occasionally at the Savoy Theater, also appearing in the principal contralto roles in The Pirates of Penzance, Ruddigore, Yeomen of the Guard, and The Gondoliers.

Mary E. Maxwell, who wrote the text of this hymn, is somewhat more mysterious. Not much appears to be known about her. I found one reference that speculates that she was actually Mary Elizabeth Braddon (who later married John Maxwell), a popular writer of dozens of sensational novels, and best known for Lady Audley's Secret. If Braddon was indeed the same Maxwell, she probably would have preferred to used her lesser-known married name for hymnwriting, but I've found nothing yet in reading about Braddon that indicates any hint of an interest in religion.