Dix’ fa­ther, a sur­geon, wrote a bi­o­gra­phy of po­et Tho­mas Chat­ter­ton, and gave his son his mid­dle name in his hon­or. Young Will­iam at­tend­ed the Bris­tol Gram­mar School. Lat­er, he man­aged a ma­rine in­sur­ance com­pa­ny in Glas­gow, Scot­land, but his heart was in the po­e­try of wor­ship. He wrote more than 40 hymns over the course of his life. His works in­clude:

• Hymns of Love and Joy, 1861
• Altar Songs, Vers­es on the Ho­ly Eu­cha­rist, 1867
• A Vi­sion of All Saints, 1871
• Seekers of a Ci­ty, 1878

• Julian, pp. 303-203, 1559
• Nutter, p. 404
• Stulken, p. 143

1. Alleluia! Sing to Je­sus!
2. As with Glad­ness, Men of Old
3. Beauteous Are the Flow­ers of Earth
4. Christians, Car­ol Sweet­ly
5. Come un­to Me, Ye Wea­ry
6. Cross Is on Thy Brow, The
7. God Com­eth, Let the Heart Pre­pare
8. How Long, O Lord, How Long, We Ask
9. In Our Work and in Our Play
10. In the Hol­low of Thine Hand
11. Joy Fills Our In­most Hearts Today!
12. Lift Up Your Songs, Ye Ang­el Choirs
13. Lift Up Your Songs, Ye Thank­ful
14. Like Sil­ver Lamps in a Dis­tant Shrine
15. Now in Num­bers Soft­ly Flow­ing
16. Now, My Soul, Re­hearse the Sto­ry
17. Now, O Fa­ther, We Adore Thee
18. O Christ, Thou Son of Ma­ry
19. O Cross Which On­ly Canst Al­lay
20. O Thou, the Eter­nal Son of God
21. On the Wa­ters Dark and Drear
22. Only One Pray­er To­day
23. Sitting at Re­ceipt of Cus­tom
24. Stars Above Our Head, The
25. To Thee, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise
26. What Child Is This?
27. When the Shades of Night Are Fall­ing
28. Within the Tem­ple’s Hall­owed Courts