C. Maud Battersby

C. Maud Battersby is the name credited with the text of the early twentieth-century devotional song commonly titled An Evening Prayer. Reliable hymnological sources have not established her full name, life dates, nationality, church affiliation, education, occupation, or wider literary career. Hymnary explicitly notes that no biographical information is available.

The strongest documented fact is the 1911 publication and copyright history of this prayer text in association with music by Charles H. Gabriel. Later hymnals sometimes spell the middle name Maude, but the principal Hymnary authority and the surviving score use C. Maud or C. M. Battersby. Because the surviving evidence is so limited, claims that assign her a denomination, detailed biography, or earlier composition date should be treated cautiously unless supported by new primary documentation.