Frances Ridley Havergal was born December 14, 1836.  She was the daughter of William Henry Havergal who was a minister and the foremost writer of sacred music in his day.  Her mother was the lovely Jane Head.  She lived in England and was the youngest of six children.  Although Frances was raised in a family that grew up reading and hearing the Word of God, she was not converted until age 14 after her mother’s death.  She was confirmed at age 17 in the Anglican Church and loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all of her heart.  She was known as “the consecration poet.”  Frances could read at the age of three  and wrote verse and prose from the age of seven.  She authored several books including:  My King, Loyal Responses, The Royal Invitation, Royal Commandments and Royal Bounty. She wrote poems and children’s works and tracts, leaflets and gift cards.  She is best known for her work Kept for the Master’s Use. That work remains in print today and she is frequently quoted in devotionals.

Miss Havergal authored several famous hymns including:
I Am Trusting Thee Lord Jesus
Take My Life and Let It Be
Who Is On The Lord’s Side?
Thy Life Was Given for Me and
Like A River Glorious.

While musically gifted and trained as a soloist, Frances rejected worldly fame.  She felt her life’s mission was to sing and work only for Jesus.  The Ministry of Song (1869) was the first of her many published works which were known and highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic.  In countless hearts are blessings that have dropped from her lips or from her pen.  One evening in 1874, while seeking a deeper consecration with the Lord, the little couplets of the hymn Take My Life and Let It Be chimed in her heart one after another.  (This was first known as the Consecration Hymn.)

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of they love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and ‘beautiful’ for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine,
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, ALL for Thee.

Every word was her heart’s desire, and the line “Take my silver and my gold” was fulfilled when she gathered together her many fine pieces of jewelry and gave them to the Women’s Missionary Society to be used for evangelizing the lost–nearly 50 articles were given “with extreme delight.”

Frances Ridley Havergal went home to heaven on June 3, 1879 at the age of 43.  Her last hours were radiant with the brightness of her faith and it was her earnest desire that all in her family know and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  Maria, her devoted sister, was with her in the last week of her life at Caswell Bay in Wales.  She was laid to rest among flowers, laurels and bay leaves.  One of her last whispers was “I did so want to glorify Him, every step of the way, and especially in this suffering.”  This she did, loving all along.

Excerpts from Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal