Dearmer, Percy

(1867–1936)

   Poet and Liturgist.

   Dearmer was educated at the University of Oxford. After ordination, he served as a parish priest in London; following this he was appointed Professor of Ecclesiastical Art at the University of London and finally he became a Canon of Westminster Abbey. He was the author of a much used liturgical manual, The Parson’s Handbook, published in 1899. However, he is chiefly remembered as a hymn-writer and for his great hymn collections, The English Hymnal, Songs of Praise and the Oxford Book of Carols. These are still used in the Anglican Church.

   Percy Dearmer, The Parson’s Handbook, edited by C.E. Pocknee, 13th edn (1965);

   N. Dearmer, The Life of Percy Dearmer (1940).