Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rawson, George
RAWSON, GEORGE (1807–1889), hymn-writer, was born at Leeds on 5 June 1807. Educated at Clunie's school, Manchester, he was articled to a firm of Leeds solicitors, and ultimately practised for himself. Retiring from business, he went to Clifton, and died there on 25 March 1889. Rawson wrote many hymns. His earliest efforts appeared anonymously, under the signature of ‘A Leeds Layman.’ A collection was published as ‘Hymns, Verses, and Chants,’ with his name on the title-page (London, 1877); and a small volume, ‘Songs of Spiritual Thought,’ embracing a selection from the earlier collection, was issued by the Religious Tract Society in 1885. There is much diversity of style and treatment in his verse, and his hymns, original in subject and form, are both poetic and devout. His best known hymn is one for the communion, ‘By Christ redeemed,’ but others are included in several church collections.
[Sunday Magazine, September 1888; Miller's Singers and Songs, 1869, p. 551; Leeds Mercury, 30 March 1889; Horder's Hymn Lover pp. 223, 488.]