William E. A. Axon

Axon, William Edward Armytag, LL.D., was born at Manchester, Jan. 13, 1864. He was for some time Deputy Chief Librarian of Manchester, and then, on resigning in 1874, he joined the editorial staff of the Manchester Guardian and continued thereon to 1905, when he retired. Dr. Axon has published Annals of Manchester, 1886, the Ancoats Skylark, a volume of verse, 1896, Cobden as a Citizen, 1906, and other works. To Songs of Hope and Brotherhood, 1904, a collection of hymns for the Manchester Vegetarian Society's Summer School, he contributed nine hymns. As a writer of hymns he is best known through his translation of the hymn usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, "Cantico delle creature," beginning "Altissimo omnipotente bon' Signore." The translation is "Praised be the Lord our God." It appeared in his Exotica, 1876, p. 23, and his Ancoats Skylark, 1896. It is given in Horder's Supplement, 1894, his Worship Song, 1905, and other collections.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)