Christened: October 21, 1750, Ovenden, Yorkshire, England.
Died: March 9, 1801.
Buried: Illingworth churchyard, Halifax, England.
Widdop was the son of Abram Widdop and husband of Betty Airton (married 1770, in St. John the Baptist Church, Halifax). He was called Accepted, the story goes, because he was the seventh and last child of a poor family, but would still be accepted
by name and nature.
He was a wool comber by trade.
He wrote many hymn tunes, which are still held in manuscript in the area. Several are in Houldsworth’s Chetham’s Psalmody, published throughout the 19th Century in Halifax, and still commonly found in northern England, though no longer regularly used.
If you know where to get a good picture of Widdop (head-and-shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),