John Howard Bertram Masterman

John Howard Bertram Masterman (1867–1933) was an English Church of England priest, historian, educator, writer, and bishop. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, where his work combined history, theology, and literature. He was ordained in the Church of England in the 1890s and served in parish and educational appointments before becoming widely known as both a churchman and a scholar.

Masterman held academic responsibilities in Birmingham and wrote on biblical, ecclesiastical, and historical subjects. His publications included a Greek-text commentary on 1 Peter and works dealing with church history and contemporary religious questions. His career therefore joined parish ministry with sustained teaching and writing rather than separating scholarship from the practical life of the church.

He later became Bishop of Plymouth, serving in the Diocese of Exeter during the final decade of his life. The National Portrait Gallery identifies him as Bishop of Plymouth and a writer. His hymn texts reflect the same concern for Christian faith expressed in public and social life: prayer, moral renewal, fellowship, peace, and the transformation of human relationships under God’s rule.

Among the texts associated with him are “Almighty Father, who dost give” and the reordered or selected form beginning “Lift up our hearts, O King of kings.” These hymns circulated in twentieth-century English-language collections and show Masterman using concise Long Meter stanzas to connect worship with ethical and communal renewal.