WARRINGTON was composed by Ralph Harrison (b. Chinley, Derbyshire, England, 1748; d. Manchester, Lancashire, England, 1810) and published in his collection of psalm tunes, Sacred Harmony (1784). The tune's rising inflections help to accent words such as erotic (probably the only time this word has been used in a hymn!).

Harrison was educated at Warrington Academy (hence the tune title), a school associated with the Unitarian Church. He became an independent minister, spending most of his life serving the Cross Street Chapel in Manchester. He also taught classics at the Manchester Academy, a school he established, and published two volumes of church music entitled Sacred Harmony (1784, 1791), which include a number of his own psalm and hymn tunes.

Here are two suggestions for use of this hymn at a wedding: (a) bride and groom (or their representatives) sing a duet, alternating on stanzas 2 and 3; (b) bride and groom sing stanzas 2 and 3 in unison, and the congregation sings stanzas 1 and 4–possibly with this change in line 1 of stanza 4: “With all who hear this solemn vow. . . .” Better known tunes for this text are WINCHESTER NEW (593) and OLD HUNDREDTH (134 and 638).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook