LDS Hymns

-History: (Source: Wikipedia)

Written By: William E. Hickson

William Edward Hickson (January 7, 1803 – March 22, 1870), commonly known as W. E. Hickson, was a British educational writer. He was the author of “Time and Faith” and was the editor of The Westminster Review (1840-1852). He wrote an “improved” version of the British national anthem whose verses were included in the version of God Save the King published in the English Hymnal.

Hickson was the son of William Hickson, a boot and shoe manufacturer of Smithfield, London. Having studied schools in The Netherlands and Germany, he retired from the family business in 1840 to concentrate on philanthropic pursuits: particularly the cause of elementary education.^[1] He became editor and proprietor of The Westminster Review which was notable for its commitment to legislative reform and popular education.

Music By: Ernst Moritz Arndt

Ernst Moritz Arndt (December 26, 1769 – January 29, 1860) was a German nationalistic and anti-semitic author and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany, and had to flee to Sweden for some time due to his anti-French positions. He is one of the main founders of German nationalism and the movement for German unification. After the Carlsbad Decrees, the forces of the restoration counted him as a demagogue and he was only rehabilitated^{[citation needed]} in 1840.

Arndt played an important role for the early national and liberal Burschenschaft movement and for the unification movement, and his song “Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?” acted as an unofficial German national anthem.

Long after his death, his anti-French war propaganda was used again by nationalists in both World Wars and also by the National Front of theGDR 1949-1989. This together with some strongly antisemitic statements has led to a rather ambivalent view of Arndt today.

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