Godfrey Thring

Godfrey Thring was born at Alford, Somerset, on March 25, 1823, in the rectory where his father served. Educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford, he received his BA in 1845 and was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1847. After several curacies, he returned in 1858 to become rector of Alford with Hornblotton, succeeding his father. He remained there until retiring in 1893 and was also connected with Wells Cathedral, becoming a prebendary in 1876.

Thring began writing hymns extensively in the 1860s and published Hymns Congregational and Others and Hymns and Verses in 1866, Hymns and Sacred Lyrics in 1874, and his own Church of England hymn books in 1880 and 1882. His work includes hymns for Epiphany, Ascension, charity, mission, and daily prayer. He wanted congregational poetry to combine theological clarity, literary dignity, and usefulness across the church year.

His role in Crown Him with Many Crowns developed in stages, not through collaboration with Matthew Bridges. Material credited to Thring appeared in an extensively revised composite text in Church Hymns in 1871. He then published a substantially independent version in 1874, explaining that he had first been asked to replace stanzas that some editors rejected and later decided the two hymns should remain distinct. Modern hymnals frequently combine selections from both authors, so attribution must be checked stanza by stanza.