Introduction

Biography

Byrom was the son of a lin­en drap­er in Man­ches­ter.

Byrom at­tend­ed King’s School, Ches­ter, then went on to Cam­bridge, where he gra­du­at­ed MA 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 a Fel­low of the Roy­al So­cie­ty. The next 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.