Onward Christian Soldiers

DESCRIPTION: "Onward, Christian Soldier, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before." The Christian "army" is urged forward, bypassing temporary earthly structures for the eternal kingdom of God
AUTHOR: Words: Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) / Music: Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Church Times)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: West Indies(Trinidad)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 352, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (1 text)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #40, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 416-417, "Onward, Christian Soldiers"
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 262, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (notes only)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 89, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 110, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1 text)
DT, ONCHRST*
ADDITIONAL: Ira D. Sankey, _Sacred Songs and Solos: Twelve Hundred Hymns_ (London: Marshall Morgan & Scott Ltd, 1921? ("Digitized by Internet Archive")) #706, ("Onward, Christian soldiers! marching as to war") (1 text)
(author not listed), _Hymns Ancient and Modern_ (London: William Clowes and Sons, 1913), #391 p. 109, ("Onward, Christian soldiers") (1 text)
Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp. 80-81, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 27, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (1 text, which appears to be the only unmodified text in the book)
Roud #V26738
RECORDINGS:
Haydn Quartet, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (Victor 521, 1901)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (Brunswick 166, 1927)
Stellar Quartet, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (Puritan 11158, 1922)
Henry Williams, Henry Thomas, Margaret Wright, Edna Wright, "Onward Christian Soldiers" (on WITrinidadVillage02)
SAME TUNE:
Onward Christian Sailors (File: Tawn022)
Lloyd George Knew My Father (File: LTCSLlGe)
Forward Joe Soap's Army (File: AWTB127A)
Onward Yankee Soldiers (File: AWTB127B)
Onward, Queen Victorias! (File: NeTT056)
Onward, Christian Bedbugs (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 105)
Quartette, "Onward Valiant Klansmen" (KKK 75008, c. 1924)
W. R. Rhinehart, "Onward Christian Klansmen" (100% K-32, n.d., prob. 1920s)
Modern Missionary Zeal ("Onward, Christian soldiers, On to heathen lands! Prayer book in your pockets, Rifles in your hands") (Foner, p. 152)
Onward Boy Scouts (cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 262)
NOTES [402 words]: Yes, the Sabine Baring-Gould who wrote this is the same fellow as collected English folksongs. And whose descendants are responsible for the Annotated Mother Goose cited frequently in this index. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1864, and produced quite a bit of Christian poetry and analysis, though this hymn is nearly the only part to have achieved any popularity.
Julian, p. 870, reports:
This most successful processional hymn was written in 1865, and first printed in 6 st[anzas] in the Church TImes during the same year. Usually st[anza] iv.,
"What the saints established
That I hold for true,
What the saints believed
That believe I too.
Long as earth endureth
Men that Faith will hold, --
Kingdoms, nations, empires,
In destruction rolled."
is omitted, and certainly to the advantage of the hymn. The form given to the text in [Hymns Ancient and Modern], 1868, is that in general use in all English-speaking countries.
On p. 1684, Julian notes another change to the original text; since the Church is no longer a single denomination, "We are not divided" was altered to "Though divisions harass."
Kellett, p. 199, reports that "[Whitsuntide] was until very recently observed by churches and Sunday schools walking round, sometimes with a banner, usually on Whit Monday, to sing hymns in the open air; the well-known Onward Christian Soldiers was specially written for the children of Horbury Bridge, near Wakefield, in 1865 for such an occasion.
Reynolds, p. 176, records that Sir Arthur Sullivan's tune was given the name "St. Gertrude," after Gertrude Clay-Ker-Seymer, at whose home the tune was written. Rudin, p. 60, says that Baring-Gould's text, when first written, was instead sung to "St. Alban," which did not have as much of a marching feeling; Sullivan wrote the melody in 1871, six years after the words were set down.
The idea of the piece is old. Seng, pp. 67-69, quotes a Tudor era piece which begins "Marche out gods soldiours, youre enimies be sure at hand, no doubte ye must have warres, se therefor lustlye tat ye stand," and that is headed "A ballet declaring how everye christian ought to perpare them selffe to warre & for to fight valiantly vnder the banner of his capton christ: to be Songe after Rowe well you maryners." - RBW
Also see The Methodist Hymn-Book (London: The Methodist Publishing House, 1954), #822 p. 314, ("Onward! Christian soldiers") (1 text). - BS
Bibliography

Julian: John Julian, editor, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes)
Kellett: Arnold Kellett, The Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition, and Folklore, revised edition, Smith Settle, 2002
Reynolds: William Reynolds, Companion to Baptist Hymnal, Broadman Press, 1976
Rudin: Cecilia Margaret Rudin, Stories of Hymns We Love, John Rudin & Company, 1934 (I use the fourteenth printing of 1951)
Seng: Peter J. Seng, Tudor Songs and Ballads from MS Cotton Vespasian A-25, Harvard University Press, 1978, #17, pp. 32-33, "Where gripinge greues the hart wold wound" (1 text)

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