Born: January 23, 1717, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England.
Died: September 23, 1795, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England.
Buried: St. Lawrence churchyard, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England.
Benjamin was the son of Baptist minister John Beddome and Rachel Brandon, and husband of Elizabeth Boswell (married December 11, 1749, Hampnett, Gloucestershire).
He was educated at an independent academy in Tenter Alley, Moorfields, London, and afterwards at the Baptist College, Bristol.
He was apprenticed to a surgeon in Bristol, but moved to London in 1739 and joined the Baptist church in Prescott Street.
At the call of his church, he devoted himself to the work of Christian ministry, and in 1740 began to preach at Bourton-on-the-Water, in East Gloucestershire.
For many years he was one of the most respected Baptist ministers in western England. He was also a man of some literary culture. In 1770, he received a MA degree from Providence College, Rhode Island.
It was Beddome’s practice to write a hymn weekly for use after his Sunday morning sermon. Though not originally intended for publication, he let 13 of these appear in the 1769 Bristol Baptist Collection of Ash & Evans, and 36 in Rippon’s 1787 Selections.
Robert Hall, pastor of the church at Broadmead, Bristol, wrote of Beddome’s hymns:
The man of taste will be gratified with the beauty and original turns of thought which many of them exhibit, while the experimental Christian will often perceive the most secret movements of his soul strikingly delineated, and sentiments portrayed which will find their echo in every heart.
His other works include:
Buried with Christ,the Scripture Saith
I Come,the Savior Cries
I Love,the Great Redeemer Cries
Seek Ye My Face,Jehovah Said
Have Patience, Lord
Not Hurt Me,Dearest Lord?
If you know where to get a good picture of Beddome (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),