William Herbert Jude

William Herbert Jude was an English organist, composer, editor, lecturer, and recitalist born at Westleton, Suffolk, in the early 1850s. Hymnary and several biographical sources give 1851 as his birth year, while the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology gives 1852. His family later lived in Norfolk, and he showed unusual musical ability in childhood. He studied in Liverpool, became an organist while still young, and later held posts associated with Liverpool’s Blue Coat Hospital and Stretford Town Hall near Manchester.

Jude developed a broad career beyond parish organ playing. He taught and lectured, travelled extensively as an organ recitalist, toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1890s, edited musical periodicals, and compiled collections including Mission Hymns and Festival Hymns. His religious interests also led him to publish Gipsy Smith’s Favourite Solos in 1903. Contemporary accounts describe a musician who moved easily between church music, popular song, recital performance, and musical education.

His enduring connection with this hymn is GALILEE, composed specifically for Cecil Frances Alexander’s text and first published in The Congregational Church Hymnal in 1887. The tune became especially common with the hymn in North American books, although British and Anglican traditions often use other melodies. Jude died in London on August 8, 1922.