{{Short description|English clergyman and hymnodist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:John Darwall - How blest is he who ne'er consents. (BL Add MS 50891 f. 1r).jpg|thumb|First page of an autograph manuscript of a tune by John Darwall for Psalm 1, in the metrical version by Tate and Brady.]]
'''John Darwall''' (1731–1789) was an English clergyman and hymnodist.
Born in the village of Haughton in Staffordshire, Darwall was educated at Manchester Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford (which he entered at the age of 15), graduating in 1756. He then became curate and later vicar of St Matthew's Parish in Walsall.<ref name="John Darwall 1731–1789">{{cite web |url=http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/darwallj.htm |title=John Darwall (1731–1789) |publisher=.shropshire-cc.gov.uk |access-date=2012-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221230853/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/darwallj.htm |archive-date=2012-02-21 }}</ref> In 1766 he married Mary Whateley (1738–1825), his second wife, a published poet who ran a printing press and also wrote hymns.<ref name="John Darwall 1731–1789"/> He died on 18 December 1789 at Walsall in the West Midlands. He was buried at the Bath Street Burial Grounds.<ref name="hymntime1">{{cite web|url=http://hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/a/r/darwall_j.htm |title=John Darwall |publisher=Hymntime.com |access-date=2012-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731071725/http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/a/r/darwall_j.htm |archive-date=2012-07-31 }}</ref>
He is probably best known for his setting of Psalm 148, known as DARWALL'S 148th, which is most often sung to the words "Rejoice the Lord is King" (from Charles Wesley's ''Moral and Sacred Poems'' of 1744) and to "Ye holy angels bright" (from Richard Baxter's ''Poetical Fragments'' of 1681). It was first sung at the inauguration of a new organ in 1773.<ref name="John Darwall 1731–1789"/><ref name="hymntime1"/>
Darwall also wrote many tunes for the ''New Version'' of Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, as well as poetry published in ''The Gentleman's Magazine''.
== Son ==
Darwall's son, also John, was vicar in 1796 and Lecturer of St John's Chapel, Deritend, Birmingham.<ref>''Street Names of Walsall, volume 1'' of the series Street Names of Walsall Metropolitan Borough. Based on the original unpublished work by W.F. Blay with additional research by Walsall Local History Centre. Published by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's Walsall Local History Centre, 1992. {{ISBN|0 946652 28 7}}.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120731071725/http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/a/r/darwall_j.htm Biography] at the Cyber Hymnal
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Darwall, John}} Category:1731 births Category:1789 deaths Category:People from the Borough of Stafford Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Category:English hymnwriters Category:18th-century English poets Category:18th-century English Anglican priests Category:18th-century English writers Category:18th-century English male writers Category:English composers Category:People educated at Manchester Grammar School