Introduction
Born: March 8, 1753, Liverpool, England.
Died: June 30, 1831, Liverpool, England.
Buried: Roscoe Gardens, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, England.
Born: March 8, 1753, Liverpool, England.
Died: June 30, 1831, Liverpool, England.
Buried: Roscoe Gardens, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, England.
William was the husband of Jane Griffies, and father of Jane Roscoe Hornblower and Mary Ann Roscoe Jevons.
Though he had little schooling, he worked for an attorney and subsequently practiced law in Liverpool until 1796.
He then turned to his first love, literature. He was a strong anti-slavery advocate, and Member of Parliament from Liverpool in 1807.
He contributed eight hymns and the concluding anthem to the Unitarian Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship, 1818.
His other works include:
Sad soul, whom God, resuming what He gave,
Medicines with bitter anguish of the tomb,
Cease to oppress the portals of the grave,
And strain thy aching sight across the gloom.
The surged Atlantic’s winter-beaten wave
Shall sooner pierce the purpose of the wind
Than thy storm-tossed and heavy-swelling mind
Grasp the full import of His means to save.
Through the dark night lie still; God’s faithful grace
Lies hid, like morning, underneath the sea.
Let thy slow hours roll, like these weary stars,
Down to the level ocean patiently;
Till His loved hand shall touch the eastern bars,
And His full glory shine upon thy face.
William Caldwell Roscoe
Poems, 1891 (posthumous)