Author: Draper, Bourne Hall
Biography:
DRAPER, Bourne Hall (1778-1843: Lewis)
He was born on 14 Nov. 1778 at Cumnor, Oxford, and baptised the following day at St. Michael’s, Oxford, the son of Thomas Draper, intitially a farmer then a grocer, and his second wife Jane Hall, who had married on 29 Aug. 1776 in the same church. He attended Christ Church Cathedral school and then worked as a printer’s apprentice at the Clarendon Press. In 1797 Draper was converted by the Baptist preacher James Hinton (1761-1823) who had many young converts in Oxford. He studied for the ministry 1802-4 at the Baptist Academy in Bristol where John Ryland (1753-1825) was his tutor, and was the author of “On the Departure of the Missionaries” (1803) which later featured in several collections of hymns. Ordained in 1804, he served as minister at Chipping Norton, Oxford (1804-9) before moving to Coseley, Staffs. (1809-19) and finally in 1820 to the Baptist Chapel in East Street, Southampton, where he remained until his death. He married first Naomi Smith (1785-1819) on 6 Dec. 1808 at Sedgley, Staffordshire, with whom he had five children. He then married Sarah Chalkley (1800-49) on 1 Jan. 1822 at St. Leonard’s, Streatham, Surrey (now South London) with one further child. He died in Southampton on 12 Oct. 1843. In addition to the work listed here, he was a regular contributor to the Baptist Magazine (hymns and sonnets under his initials, B. H. D.), an ardent advocate of the emancipation of slaves, active in the promotion of Sunday Schools and child welfare, a supporter of the Bible Society, a hymn writer and occasional contributor to minor Annuals. In all he wrote thirty-six works, many of them collections of bible stories or Christian teachings for young children. His obituary concluded with his long poem anticipating his death, “Invitation of the Ministering Angel to the Spirit of the Departing Christian.” (Lewis 1: 322-23; Baptist Magazine Oct. 1821, 450-1 [Letter on the Slave Trade], Mar. 1844, 117-21 [Obituary by Rev. William Yarnold]; H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and their Hymns [1888], 186-9; ancestry.co.uk 20 Jun. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 20 Jun. 2022; Bath Chronicle 21 Jan. 1819; Salisbury and Winchester Journal 14 Oct. 1843) AA