William Ernest Blandy
1848 - 1915
Methodist Episcopal; earlier Salvation Army, Primitive Methodist, and Methodist Protestant
Biography
William Ernest Blandy (1848–1915) was an English-born evangelist, minister, and religious verse writer whose career crossed several Methodist traditions. Born in London, he was also known as Ernest W. Blandy and E. W. Blandy; some hymnals misspelled his surname as Blandly. His work in England belonged to the Christian Mission and the movement that became the Salvation Army, with appointments including Barking, Hartlepool, Bethnal Green, and South Shields during the 1870s.
In 1878 he married Eliza Amelia Eade, a fellow evangelist. He emigrated to the United States in 1884 and continued in Salvation Army service, eventually becoming a major with responsibilities in New York and neighboring districts. Their shared evangelistic vocation continued beyond the Army: the Primitive Methodist Church formally recognized both husband and wife as evangelists in 1893.
Blandy also served Primitive Methodist congregations in Brooklyn and Providence, then worked within the Methodist Protestant Church in Queens. His subsequent ministry included city mission work in Binghamton and local or supply pastorates in the Methodist Episcopal Church's Wyoming Conference. His appointments connected communities in New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, illustrating the mobility of late nineteenth-century evangelical ministry.
His writing extended beyond the hymn for which he is best remembered. The Christian Mission Magazine published his poem Don't Be the First in May 1878, counseling restraint in suspicion and gossip. Where He Leads Me later carried his name into many denominational hymnals. He died at Waverly, New York, on August 18, 1915. His career joins congregational ministry, urban evangelism, and devotional writing within the broader Methodist revival tradition.
In 1878 he married Eliza Amelia Eade, a fellow evangelist. He emigrated to the United States in 1884 and continued in Salvation Army service, eventually becoming a major with responsibilities in New York and neighboring districts. Their shared evangelistic vocation continued beyond the Army: the Primitive Methodist Church formally recognized both husband and wife as evangelists in 1893.
Blandy also served Primitive Methodist congregations in Brooklyn and Providence, then worked within the Methodist Protestant Church in Queens. His subsequent ministry included city mission work in Binghamton and local or supply pastorates in the Methodist Episcopal Church's Wyoming Conference. His appointments connected communities in New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, illustrating the mobility of late nineteenth-century evangelical ministry.
His writing extended beyond the hymn for which he is best remembered. The Christian Mission Magazine published his poem Don't Be the First in May 1878, counseling restraint in suspicion and gossip. Where He Leads Me later carried his name into many denominational hymnals. He died at Waverly, New York, on August 18, 1915. His career joins congregational ministry, urban evangelism, and devotional writing within the broader Methodist revival tradition.
Hymns by William Ernest Blandy
Where He Leads Me
Role: Lyricist