Byrom’s fa­ther was a lin­en drap­er in Man­ches­ter. By­rom at­tend­ed King’s School, Ches­ter, then went on to Cam­bridge, where he grad­u­at­ed M.A. and be­came a Fel­low of Trin­i­ty Coll­ege. But, de­clin­ing to take Ho­ly Or­ders, he re­signed and soon af­ter mar­ried his cou­sin, Eliz­a­beth By­rom, against the wish­es of both fam­i­lies. He earned a liv­ing by teach­ing short­hand, for which he in­vent­ed his own sys­tem. In 1723, he was elect­ed Fel­low of the Roy­al So­ci­e­ty. The fol­low­ing year, his bro­ther died, and John in­her­it­ed the fam­i­ly es­tates and re­turned to Man­ches­ter. He fre­quent­ly vis­it­ed Cheet­ham’s Hos­pi­tal in Man­ches­ter, and wrote ma­ny hymns for the boys there.

Sources

Hymns

1. Christ­ians, Awake, Salute the Happy Morn
2. My Spirit Longs for Thee

Translations

1. Come, Savior, Jesus, from Above