Christian Henry Bateman

Christian Henry Bateman, son of John Bateman, was born at Wyke, near Halifax, on August 9, 1813. After initial studies and ministry within the Moravian Church, he became pastor of the Richmond Place Congregational Church in Edinburgh in 1843. He subsequently served Congregational pastorates at Hopton and Reading before taking Holy Orders in the Church of England, serving curacies and vicarages in Jersey, Childshill, and Hawarden.

Bateman was a prominent hymnal editor whose Sacred Song Book (later titled Sacred Melodies for Children and 200 Sacred Melodies for Sunday Schools and Families) achieved massive popular success, selling millions of copies and becoming the standard Sabbath school hymnbook in Scotland for decades. He also published The Children's Hymnal and Christian Year (1872). Bateman is best remembered as the author of the popular children's hymn "Come, children, join to sing."