Charles Arthur Blackmore

Charles Arthur Blackmore, usually identified in contemporary records as C. Arthur or Arthur Blackmore, was an evangelical rescue-mission minister. Later hymn biographical sources give his life dates as 1880–1950. Institutional histories of the Erie City Mission in Pennsylvania confirm that Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Blackmore were called to serve there in 1918 and remained until 1950. A near-contemporary account of the rescue-mission movement remembers Arthur Blackmore as a former barber whose life and vocation were redirected through the ministry of evangelist Mel Trotter; Blackmore later served as Trotter’s assistant before being sent to Erie.

Blackmore’s connection with “Some Golden Daybreak” requires careful wording because published hymnals vary in their credits. Many hymnals and Hymnary.org list his son Carl A. Blackmore as author of the entire song, while later accounts of the Blackmore family’s own story attribute the stanzas to the elder Blackmore and the refrain and music to Carl. The original 1934 copyright credit to “Blackmore & Son” is consistent with a collaboration, although it does not by itself establish the exact division of authorship. Blackmore’s documented ministry among people facing poverty, illness, and hardship gives historical context to the song’s emphasis on Christian hope and the return of Christ.