William Barton

William Barton was born around 1603 and served as minister of St. Martin's, Leicester. He died on May 14, 1678. Barton was the author of one of the earliest collections of English hymns as distinct from simple psalm versions. A friend of Richard Baxter, Barton prepared four metrical renderings of the Te Deum at Baxter's request.

Barton published numerous volumes of sacred verse, beginning with The Book of Psalms in Metre (1644) and Psalms and Hymns composed for the Public Thanksgiving (1651). His landmark hymnological contribution was A Century of Select Hymns (1659), which expanded into Four Centuries of Select Hymns (1668) and ultimately Six Centuries of Select Hymns and Spiritual Songs, published posthumously in 1688 with an introduction by his son, Edward Barton. Barton also authored A View of Many Errors and some gross Absurdities in the Old Translation of the Psalms in English Metre (1655), criticizing existing metrical versions.