The story behind this famous hymn is really quite astounding: the Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton, who wrote the famous lyrics in 1772, was himself at different times in his life both enslaved \/and also\/ worked as the captain of a slave ship, before undergoing a conversion to evangelical Christianity. He later became a staunch abolitionist and lived to see the abolition of the slave trade in the British empire in 1807.<\/p>\n
We do not, however, know which melody Newton intended his now iconic hymn to be sung to, and it was not until 1835 that the tune most associated with this song (the one published here) ‘New Britain’ became commonly associated with it.<\/p>\n
This tune is of uncertain authorship and generally held to be a traditional melody. Some sources consider it an amalgamation of two melodies (“Gallaher” and “St. Mary”), first published in the Columbian Harmony by Charles H. Spilman and Benjamin Shaw (Cincinnati, 1829). It is now one of the most recognisable hymn tunes in the world.<\/p>\n