Mary Christian Dundas Hamilton (24 May 1850 - 10 June 1943) was a Scottish writer and poet. She is known for writing A Hymn for Aviators (1915).[1] The music to this hymn was composed by Charles Hubert Parry. Hamilton's verse was printed in The Times of London in 1915 and was also included in the anthology A Book of Verse of the Great War by W. Reginald Wheeler, published by Yale University in 1917.[2]
Mary Christian Dundas Hamilton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Mary Christian Dundas Hamilton 24 May 1850 Edinburgh |
| Died | 10 June 1943 (aged 93) Worthing, Sussex |
| Genre | Author, poet |
Early life and family
editMary Christian Dundas Hamilton was born in Edinburgh to parents John Hamilton and Catherine Barbara Stobart.[3][4] She grew up in Ayrshire and moved to Sussex, England, where she lived until her death in 1943, leaving an estate worth £5781. Hamilton had a house in Rustington, Sussex, where she was a keen fund raiser for the Women's Suffrage[5] movement which was active in this part of the country seeing visits from Rhoda Garrett and her cousins Millicent Fawcett, Agnes Garrett and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson at various points around 1879.[6]
Poetry
editHamilton was a poet. She wrote A Hymn for Aviators in 1915, a poem that was adapted at various times and given different titles. It was known as "Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly"[7] and also as "United States Air Force Hymn", it first appeared in the American Student Hymnal in 1928 and was set to Mozart's "Dona Nobis Pacem". This text was also used for "A Hymn for Aviators" and later when World War II began, it was adapted and used as part of "The Navy Hymn" for naval aviators.
Works
edit- A Hymn for Aviators (1915)
References
edit- ^ Parry, C. Hubert; Hamilton, Mary Christian Dundas. "A hymn for aviators / the words by Mary C.D. Hamilton; the music by C. Hubert H. Parry". library.si.edu. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ^ William Reginald Wheeler (1917). A Book of Verse of the Great War. New York Public Library. Yale University Press.
- ^ "FreeCEN - UK Census Records (England, Scotland, Wales)". www.freecen.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ^ Lucy (28 June 2016). "Female Poets of The First World War: Mary C.D. Hamilton (1850 - 1943) - British Poet". Female Poets of The First World War. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ des Zentrums, Jahrbuch, ed. (2018). Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture 63 (2018). Waxman. pp. 168, 183. ISBN 978-3830938774.
- ^ "Rustington's remarkable links to the suffragettes". www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ^ "Mary Christian Dundas Hamilton". www.hymntime.com. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
External links
edit- Wheeler, W.R. 1917. A Book of Verse of the Great War. Yale University Press.
- The Great War Forum
- Lyrics and musical score held on Smithsonian Library digital archive.