Maria Lindsay Bliss was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 composer and songwriter. She was born in Wimbledon

Wimbledon, London

Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...

 and married the Reverend John Worthington Bliss in 1858. She was one of the first women to achieve commercial success as an English songwriter in the 19th century, obtaining an exclusive contract with publisher Robert Cocks in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. She died in Betteshanger

Betteshanger

Betteshanger is a village near Deal in East Kent, England. It gave its name to the largest of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield.-Before the coal mine:...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

Works

Lindsay composed sacred and popular songs, often using contemporary poetry as text. Selected works include:

• Absalom, 1868
• Excelsior (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), 1854
• Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson), 1858
• A psalm of life (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Daybreak (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Excelsior (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Hymn of the Moravian nuns at Bethlehem at the Consecration of Pulaski's Banner (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Stars of the summer night (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• The bridge (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• The old clock on the stairs (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• The Owl and the Pussycat (Text: Edward Lear)
• The song of Love and Death (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson)
• Too late, too late! (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson)
• With many a curve (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson)