Born: De­cem­ber 31, 1859, Foul­den, Nor­folk, Eng­land.

Died: Sep­tem­ber 9, 1922, Wat­ford, Hert­ford­shire, Eng­land. At his me­mor­ial ser­vice, Sal­va­tion Ar­my Gen­er­al Bram­well Booth said, “He sang his way through this life and he will sing his way through Eter­ni­ty.”

Buried: Ab­ney Park Cem­e­tery, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Son of farm work­er John Law­ley, young John worked on farms un­til his fam­i­ly moved to Brad­ford, where he be­came an “en­gine-lad.” He came to a Christ at a meet­ing in Pull­an’s The­a­ter in Brad­ford, and a few months lat­er be­came a Christ­ian Miss­ions evan­gel­ist. He wrote his first Gos­pel song in 1878 while serv­ing at Jar­row-on-Tyne. He went on to work at Sal­v­ation Ar­my (SA) corps and di­vi­sions, with SA found­er Will­iam Booth for over 20 years, and al­so with SA Gen­er­al Bram­well Booth.

Sources

Hymns

  1. Come, with Me Visit Calvary
  2. Give Us a Day of Wonders
  3. Have You Seen the Crucified
  4. Near Thy Cross Assembled, Master
  5. O Happy, Happy Day
  6. Thou Thunders Roll and Darkened Be the Sky
  7. To Save a Poor Sinner Like Me
  8. Wanted, Hearts Baptized with Fire