Patrick Appleford

Sometimes available on Amazon


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Patrick Robert Norman (Pat) Appleford was born in 1925 in Croydon, England.  He was educated at Hurstpierpoint College, West Sussex and then attended Trinity College in Cambridge.  He studied for the Anglican priesthood at Chichester Theological College.

He worked in the Poplar parish in East London and was ordained in 1952.  His most-well known hymn, Living Lord, was written while he was there.    Later he worked as chaplain at Chaplain of Bishops’ College, Cheshunt.

In around 1960, he co-founded the  "20th Century Church Light Music Group" with his former tutor, Geoffrey Beaumont (ref).  This group was part of a movement introducing  a major change to hymn-writing and hymn-singing approaches in English-speaking Anglican churches, promoting straightforward hymns English-language hymns, and setting texts to original melodies that were quickly learned and repeated. (ref).

He served with Anglican missionary agency USPG from 1961 to 1966, and then went to Zambia as Dean and Rector of Holy Cross Cathedral.  He returned to England in 1972 and worked in the Chelmsford Diocese.  

His hymn-writing continued throughout his ministry, and a a collection "The Hymns of Patrick Appleford" was published in 2007 marking his 80th-birthday.  Second-hand copies of this book are sometimes available on Amazon.

After retiring, he studied composition, and wrote three cantatas. The Way of the Cross, Follow the Way and Messiah comes to Town.

Some of his more recent unpublished hymns are available here.

He died on 9 December 2018, aged 93.   (ref)