Lyte, Henry Francis (1793–1847), hymn writer and clergyman, was born 1 June 1793 at The Cottage, Ednam, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland, second among three sons of Lt Thomas Lyte, soldier, and Anna Maria Oliver; his English-born parents do not appear to have married. In 1798 his father, now a captain, was stationed in the west of Ireland and helped quell the insurrection there. Educated (1803–9) at the Royal School, Portora, Co. Fermanagh, Henry Francis lost touch with his family after his parents separated, and his father married another woman. Entering TCD (1811), he was a scholar (1813), and won the English prize for poetry in three consecutive years, before graduating BA (1814). Originally wanting a medical career, his thoughts slowly turned to religion, and he was ordained in the church of Ireland in 1815.
His first ministry was as curate at St Munn's church, Taghmon, a small town nine miles from Wexford. In his brief stay there he lost all interest in religion, preferring to spend time in the company of the local gentry. His preference for rich food and company was to be a consistent feature in his life. While at Taghmon his health began to fail and he was sent to France to recover. When he returned eight months later, he resigned his position and left Ireland. Regularly on the move in this period, he was at Marazion, Cornwall, and Lymington, Hampshire, before finally settling at Brixham, Devonshire, in 1823. However, during his curacy at Marazion, his crisis of faith was resolved after visiting a dying clergyman and, his vocation restored, he began intensive studies of the Bible. Poor health compelled him to spend some time in Italy, in Naples and Rome, where he was highly critical of the Roman catholic practices he observed; he remarked that ‘it is curious to see how narrow and personal they all become’ (Appleyard, 43).
Interested in poetry all his life, he began composing hymns: ‘Praise my soul the king of Heaven’ (1834) and ‘Abide with me’ (1847) are his best known. He wrote the latter while dying of tuberculosis and finished it just before he left for Italy to attempt to regain his health. He never reached Italy but died 20 November 1847 at Nice, and was buried there at the Holy Trinity church. ‘Abide with me’ has been sung annually at the FA Cup final in England since 1927.
He married (21 January 1818) Anne, daughter of the Rev. William Maxwell (qv), a church of Ireland clergyman. Lyte's son, J. W. Maxwell Lyte, helped him establish a theological library, while his daughter published a collection of his poems and sermons in 1850.