Author: Saunders, W.
Biography:
SAUNDERS, W. (fl 1819)
According to the title-page of his only book, Saunders (or Sanders) in 1819 was “a youth who from infancy has been almost blind, and destitute of any Education but what he had received at a Sunday School.” A preface gives further details. The son of “indigent” parents, he had lost the sight of one eye from smallpox very early in life and had “very imperfect use” of the other. He had however learnt to read with the help of an old woman, and had then gone to work turning a lathe at a stoneware factory at Belper, Derbyshire, where to pass the time he sang songs that he had committed to memory and began composing songs of his own. About the age of thirteen, he came to the notice of one of his supervisors and began to be called on to compose hymns and memorial stanzas upon request. About the same time, he began to attend a Methodist Sunday school, continuing in his practice of composing songs and singing them at work. He could not write but this collection of his pious poems and hymns was taken down to his dictation and printed for his benefit. It is most likely that he was William Sanders, son of Sarah and William Sanders, who was baptised at Denby—a neighbouring village to Belper—on 11 Mar. 1798. He may be the William Sanders who was buried at St. Peter’s, Belper, on 23 Nov. 1824, although his age at death is given as 24 which would imply a birthdate of 1800. (ancestry.com 19 Sept. 2024; findmypast.com 19 Sept. 2024) HJ