John Ellerton wrote the hymn entitled “Evening” in 1870 for “A Liturgy for Missionary Meetings” borrowing the first line from an anonymous hymn in Church Poetry, 1855. Originally there were five stanzas, the omitted one being:

The sun that binds us rest is walking

Our brethren ‘neath the western sky,

And hour by hour fresh lips are making

Thy wondrous doings heard on high.

Ellerton was born in Clerkenwell, London, on December 16, 1826, and gained a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1849. He was ordained to the Anglican ministry in 1850 and appointed as curate in the village of Easebourne in Sussex. In 1852, he was moved to Brighton; he was awarded his M.A. in 1854, and in 1860 was appointed vicar of Crewe Green and chaplain to Lord Crewe. In 1872 he moved to Shropshire; in 1876 he was appointed to Barnes in Surrey. He ministered there until 1884 when his health broke down. After two years during which he visited the Continent, he accepted the appointment of rector at White Roding in Essex. In 1892 he was called to be canon of St. Albans Cathedral, but before he was officially installed he died at Torquay on June 15, 1893, on a visit there. He wrote, about 80 hymns, including SDAH 161, “Throned Upon the Awful Tree,” and had a part in several hymnals (e.g., Church Hymnals, of 1871); he also translated several hymns from the Latin. Ellerton refused any copyright fees for his own hymns, grateful for the fact that they could be used in praise of God.

The tune ST. CLEMENT was composed especially for these words by Clement Cotterill Scholefield, a self taught musician with no prior systematic training in music. He was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on June 22, 1839, he gained a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1863 and a M.A. in 1867. He was ordained that same year and served as a curate in Brighton from 1867 to 1869, then in London at Kensington until 1879, and at Chelsea from 1879 to 1880. For the next 10 years he was chaplain at Eton College, and from 1890 to 1895 back in London as a vicar in Knightsbridge. He retired to Godalming in Surrey, where he died on September 10, 1904. He wrote several songs and hymn tunes, this one in 1874 when he was curate of St. Paul’s, south Kensington. At the same time, Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900; see SDAH 169) was the organist at this church and was preparing the music for Church Hymns and Tunes, 1874. Sullivan was the musical editor and included Scholefield’s tune, which had not been named. He “canonized” his friend by calling the tune ST. CLEMENT!