William Henry Havergal

William Henry Havergal (1793–1870) was an English Anglican clergyman, hymn writer, composer, and hymnal editor. Born at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, he studied at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1815 and master's degree in 1819. After ordination he served a succession of parishes, including Astley and St. Nicholas in Worcester, and became an honorary canon of Worcester Cathedral.

Havergal wrote hymns and tunes for parish worship and took an active interest in improving congregational music. He edited Metrical Psalms and Hymns for Singing in Churches, often called the Worcester Diocesan Hymn Book, and published collections of psalm and hymn tunes. His family also became notable in English hymnody; his daughter Frances Ridley Havergal was a prolific hymn writer.

ZOAN, published in Havergal's A Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes in 1859, is one of his enduring melodies. The tune was paired with James Montgomery's “Hail to the Lord's Anointed” in Episcopal and other hymnals from the nineteenth century onward. Havergal's work belongs to the period when Anglican clergy and musicians were giving renewed attention to the quality, organization, and congregational usefulness of hymn singing.