Rare Hymn Book Becomes CD

Tuesday October 8 2013

A rare Chartist hymn book discovered in a Yorkshire library has been made into a CD by a veteran protest and gospel singer.

Garth Hewitt's album Liberty is Near! features 12 of the 16 hymns from the 165-year-old National Chartist Hymn Book. The tiny pamphlet was found in Todmorden Library two years ago and is believed to be the only copy that has survived.

Chartism was a radical Christian movement which campaigned for democracy and social justice.

Garth said: "I was struck by how passionate the hymns are and how poetic, and I wanted to put some tunes to them, as we only had the words, so they could be sung again and hopefully brought alive in a new way and for a new generation.

“I think they are interesting politically and I think they are also interesting for the church community to see the way that social justice and a theology come together in these songs with great power. 

“I felt we could learn something from them that might help us include songs of justice in our own hymns today.  As I recorded these songs from 1845 they came alive to me and I kept seeing a remarkable relevance to our own society."

Among the hymns is Men of England, written by Edinburgh doctor William Villiers Sankey. Although Chartism was mainly based in the north of England, there were a number of Scottish Chartists.

Dr Mike Sanders, the University of Manchester lecturer who has researched the hymn book, said: “This fragile pamphlet is an amazing find and opens up a whole new understanding of Chartism - which as a movement in many ways shaped the Britain we know today.

“I can’t imagine many pieces of research ending up as a CD of contemporary songs, so I was surprised and delighted when Garth approached me.

“It’s a great album. And as it seems a concern for social justice is being recovered by many Christian Churches, I would have thought these hymns would resonate with those communities.”

The album is available as CD or download from Garth's website

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