'Twas on that dark and doleful Night (St. Cross)

Music: John Bacccus Dykes.
John Bacchus Dykes was born in Hull, England, the fifth child and third son of William Hey Dykes and his wife Elizabeth Dykes (née Huntington), and a younger brother of the poet and hymnist Eliza Alderson.
By the age of 10, he was the assistant organist at St John's Church in Myton, Hull (transferred to Drypool in 1917), where his grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Dykes, was vicar.
He studied at Wakefield and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, earning a BA in Classics in 1847. He cofounded the Cambridge University Musical Society. He was ordained as curate of Malton in 1847.
For a short time, he was canon of Durham Cathedral, then precentor (1849 – 1862). In 1862 he became vicar of St.Oswald's, Durham, until his death in 1876.

He published numerous sermons and articles on religion; however, he is best known for over 300 hymn tunes he composed. 

This tune is called St. Cross


Author:
Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister.

In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life.