Born: May 30, 1838, Al­der­bury, Wilt­shire, Eng­land (birth name: Wil­liam Charles Fry).

Died: Au­gust 24, 1882, Park Hall, Pol­mont, Stir­ling­shire, Scot­land.

Buried: Glasgow, Scot­land. On New Year’s Day 1884, a mon­u­ment to “The first band­mas­ter of the Sal­va­tion Army” was un­veiled over his grave. On it was in­scribed a verse Fry wrote:

The former things are past,
And ended is the strife,
I’m safe home at last!
I live an endless life!

A brick­layer by trade, like his fa­ther, Fry was a ver­sa­tile mu­si­cian, play­ing the vi­o­lin, cel­lo, pi­a­no, cor­net, and har­mon­i­um, and lead­ing an or­ches­tra and band at the Wes­ley­an chap­el in Al­der­bu­ry. He al­so helped the Christ­ian Mis­sion in Sal­is­bu­ry, and his fam­i­ly band ac­comp­a­nied Sal­va­tion Army found­er Wil­liam Booth in evan­gel­ism cam­paigns.

Sources

Hymns

  1. God Gave His Son for Me
  2. Lily of the Valley, The