Martha E. Shelly

Shelly, Martha Evans, née Jackson, daughter of John Jackson, of Manchester, born at Stockport, Cheshire, and married in 1846 to J. W. Shelly, of Great Yarmouth. Her hymns appeared in Curwen's Child’s Own Hymn Book, 1844-1874, and include:—
1. Father, let Thy benediction. On behalf of Children. Appeared in Curwen's Child's Own Hymn Book, 1844, and is found in a few modern collections.
2. Lord, a little band and lowly. Children's Prayer. Mrs. Shelly's account of this hymn is:-—"At a Sunday School meeting in Manchester, the Rev. John Curwen, one evening, gave a lecture on singing. He sang a very pretty and simple tune, to which he said he had no suitable words, and wished that some one would write a hymn to it. I wrote these verses and gave them to him after the close of the meeting." (Curwen's Biog. Notes, p. 15.) The tune which Mr. Curwen sang was a German one, and was given in his Child's Own Tune Book under the name of Glover. The hymn was published in his Child's Own Hymn Book, 1844, and has passed into a large number of collections for children.
3. Lord, help us, as we sing. Sincerity. Published in The Voice of Praise, 1886.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)