Sounding ChildhoodMain Menu30 Selections from the Top Ranking Hymns for ChildrenAlphabetical Index of Hymn TitlesScoresRecordingsTimelineCreditsCredits, Permissions and CopyrightWorks CitedRehearsal VideosPart 2--Victorian Secular SongsAlisa Clapp-ItnyreAlisa Clapp-Itnyre ea81b58f96dc50ac6f0312cb8dfd4bbc7d5bfddcSOUNDING VICTORIAN Project 2016
Lift aloft our banner (Band of Mercy)
12017-06-23T17:30:06+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c260311Score from: Eddy, Sarah J. Songs of Happy Life for Schools, Homes, and Bands of Mercy. Providence, R.I.: Art and Nature Study Publ., 1897. Google Scholar. Web. 20 July 2012.plain2017-06-23T17:30:06+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c2603
“Lift aloft our banner” was another song (along with “Voice of the Helpless”) from the Bands of Mercy movement. This movement, established in 1875 by Catherine Smithies, helped children to comprehend and appreciate the century’s growing focus on animal welfare. Bands of Mercy used songs, hymns, skits, and recitations to teach children about compassionate living. Some of these hymns evoked a militancy, not of fighting but of collective unity to bring justice and kindness to the earth: “we’ll join all nations, with peace, mercy, right, and love” (v. 2) to “protect the weak and helpless” (v. 2) and “Scatter freely seeds of kindness” (v. 3). The words are by Rev. Thomas Timmins but he sets it, appropriately to the well-known, folk tune from America, used most famously with the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862).
More discussion on this song can be found in Chapter 5, British Hymn Books for Children.
