THE celebrated hymn-writer the Rt Revd Timothy Dudley-Smith died within the early hours of Monday morning in Cambridge, aged 97.
Bishop Dudley-Smith wrote the lyrics of about 400 hymns, amongst probably the most familiar of that are “Lord, for the years” (1967) and “Tell out, my soul” (1962). John Betjeman described the latter as “one among the few modern hymns that may truly last”.
Timothy Dudley-Smith was born in Manchester on Boxing Day, 1926. He attended Tonbridge School, from where he went to review at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After training for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he was ordained deacon in 1950 and ordained priest in 1951. He went on to function Archdeacon of Norwich from 1973 to 1981, and as Bishop of Thetford from 1981 until his retirement in 1991. He was awarded an OBE in 1993 for services to hymnody.
During the Fifties, he edited Crusade magazine, began as an offshoot of the Billy Graham campaigns. He was a detailed friend of the Revd Dr John Stott, at whose memorial service he preached, and whose biography he wrote.
A House of Praise: Collected hymns 1961 to 2001 was published by Oxford University Press in 2004 (Books, 30 July 2004). The Church Times columnist Ronald Blythe wrote “Word from Wormingford” that yr: “Timothy Dudley-Smith has given me A House of Praise, his collected hymns, and its magnitude has simply amazed me. Also its revelations, resembling his having originally written ‘Tell out, my soul’ as a poem with no considered its being sung.”
In an article to mark Bishop Dudley-Smith’s ninetieth birthday in 2016, Canon David Winter described him as “one among the outstanding hymn-writers of our generation” (Features, 23 December 2016). “Hymns written by ‘TDS’ are to be present in books of each denomination and tradition throughout the English-speaking world, and translated right into a dozen other languages.”
His last book, A Functional Art: Reflections of a hymn author (OUP), was published in 2017 (Books, 21 July 2017).
Obituary to follow
