Born: Feb­ru­a­ry 12, 1725, Kings­ton-up­on-Hull, Eng­land.

Died: Ap­ril 7, 1797, As­ton, Eng­land. There is a plaque to his mem­o­ry in Poe­t’s Cor­ner, West­min­ster Ab­bey (next to Mil­ton), with a bas re­lief im­age of him.

Pseudonym: Mal­colm Mac­Greg­or.

Mason was ed­u­cat­ed at St. John’s Coll­ege, Cam­bridge, and be­came fel­low of Pem­broke Coll­ege in 1749. Af­ter tak­ing Ho­ly Or­ders, he be­came Rec­tor of As­ton (near Ro­ther­ham), York­shire, in 1754. He was ap­point­ed Pre­bend of Holme in York Min­ster in 1756, Can­on Re­si­den­ti­a­ry in 1762, be­came Pre­cen­tor and Pre­ben­da­ry of Drif­field in 1763. He al­so served as lit­er­a­ry ex­ec­u­tor for po­et Thom­as Gray. His works in­clude:

Sources

Hymns

  1. Again Returns the Day of Ho­ly Rest
  2. Lord Our Sav­ior Is the Way, The
  3. Soon Shall the Evening Star with Silver Ray

If you know Ma­son’s bur­i­al place