George Lomas
1834 - 1884
Biography
George Lomas (1834–1884) was an English organist and hymn-tune composer associated with church music in the Manchester area. Hymnological sources place his birth at Birch Hall, Bolton, Lancashire, and his death at Sheffield. He studied with William Sterndale Bennett and Charles Steggall and is credited with receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from New College, Oxford. He served as organist at Didsbury Parish Church and at Emmanuel Church, Barlow Moor, Manchester, with the latter association extending from 1858 until his death.
Lomas contributed a number of tunes that entered English-language hymnals, including SURSUM CORDA, SOUTHPORT, CHAMOUNI, ST. PAUL’S COLLEGE, and other settings cataloged under his name. SURSUM CORDA, dated 1876 in Hymnary, is one of his best-known tunes and was composed decades before Walter John Mathams wrote “Christ of the Upward Way.” Mathams later recalled that the tune had long been in his mind and that its meter helped shape the hymn he wrote, making Lomas’s pre-existing music integral to the text’s earliest documented conception.
Lomas contributed a number of tunes that entered English-language hymnals, including SURSUM CORDA, SOUTHPORT, CHAMOUNI, ST. PAUL’S COLLEGE, and other settings cataloged under his name. SURSUM CORDA, dated 1876 in Hymnary, is one of his best-known tunes and was composed decades before Walter John Mathams wrote “Christ of the Upward Way.” Mathams later recalled that the tune had long been in his mind and that its meter helped shape the hymn he wrote, making Lomas’s pre-existing music integral to the text’s earliest documented conception.
Hymns by George Lomas
Christ of the Upward Way
Role: Composer