Biography

The Rev. Henry Ramsden Bramley was born June 4, 1833, at Addingham (near Otley), Yorkshire, England. He studied at Oriel College, Oxford, 1852; was a Scholar of University College, 1853; and Fellow of Magdalen, 1857 (BA 1856, MA 1859). He was ordained deacon in 1856, and priest in 1858. He served as Vicar of Horspath, Oxon (1861-1889) and Canon and Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral (1895-1905). He never married. His sister Ann lived with him at Nettleham Hall for 17 years following the death of her husband, Rev. James Stewart.

Bramley met Sir John Stainer at Magdalen College in 1860 when Stainer was appointed organist at the college. Together they published Christmas Carols, New and Old, with a total of 20 carols, sometime in the 1860s. By 1871, the second series of 22 carols came out bringing the total to 42. A third series - with 28 carols - was issued in 1878, expanding the collection to 70 carols, second only to R. R. Chope's Carols for Use In Church in the number of carols it contained. The well-crafted Bramley and Stainer editions were very well received by the British public and the various parts of the series were reprinted as recently as 1950. Carols from this collection which are still known today include: "The First Nowell", "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen", "Jacob's Ladder", "See Amid the Winter’s Snow", "Once In Royal David’s City", "The Wassail Song" (Yorkshire version), "When Christ Was Born of Mary Free" and "What Child Is This?".