Born: February 12, 1818, Pulverbatch, Shropshire, England.
Died: June 8, 1885. Place of death reported as either Hopton, Suffolk, England (Julian & The Peerage) or Thetford, Norfolk, England (Ancestry.com).
Buried: Hoxne, Suffolk, England.
Henry was the son of John Downton (Sub-Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge) and Hannah Kingwell, and husband of Elizabeth McKee (married 1849, Ardagh, County Longford, Ireland).
He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1840, MA 1843).
Taking Holy Orders in 1843, he served as curate of Bembridge, Isle of Wight (1843–44); curate of Holy Trinity, Cambridge (1847–49); and incumbent of St. John’s, Chatham, Kent (1849–57).
In 1857, he went to Geneva, Switzerland, where he was English Chaplain until 1873. Returning to England, he was rector of Hopton, Suffolk (1873–85). He was also for some time Domestic Chaplain to Lord Monson.
Downtown’s hymns were mainly contributed to the Church of England magazine, Arthur Russell’s Psalms and Hymns (1851), Barry’s Psalms and Hymns (1862), and the Sunday Magazine.
In 1873, he collected these and published them as Hymns and Verses. His translations from the French of Alexandre Vinet are also in the volume.
His other works include:
Bird of joy! why art thou lingering here,
In the place of weeping?
Bird of morn! why rings the carol clear
Where the dead are sleeping?
Bird of summer! cannot winter’s cold
Chill thy bosom’s gladness?
Cannot mourners’ tears, that wet the mould,
Touch thy heart with sadness?
Thus I wondered in myself to see
Mirth and sorrow meeting,
As a lark arose, and caroled free,
Bleak November greeting,
Where a widowed husband, silent tears
In fresh sorrow pouring,
Wept the while his loss of other years,
A sweet child deploring.
Hither when we brought the sleeping dust
Of that gentle maiden,
Ev’n while earth received her solemn trust,
And from hearts o’erladen,
Broke the stifled sob—lo! from the side
Of the grave, upspringing,
Rose a lark, and soared, and far and wide,
Filled the air with singing.
Bird of joy! and thou art true to-day
To the blessed token;
Mother with the child to rest we lay,
Sad, but not heart-broken;
Out of drear November we have heard
Promise more than vernal;
Visions thou hast brought us, happy bird,
Of the Day Eternal!
Henry Downton
Light of the World and Other Poems
and Hymns, 1871
If you know where to get a good photo of Downton (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),