Written in one night for children marching to a picnic: the story of “Onward, Christian Soldiers”

It sounds like a battle anthem. In fact, it was written for children walking from one village to another for a church celebration.

Sabine Baring-Gould wrote “Onward, Christian Soldiers” in 1865. Nobody expected it to become one of the best-known hymns in the English-speaking world, least of all its author.

The procession

Baring-Gould was a young curate at Horbury Bridge in Yorkshire, England. On Whit Monday, a traditional day for Sunday school outings, children from his village were to march to a neighbouring village for a joint celebration. He wanted a song for them to sing as they walked, with a cross and banners carried in front. Unable to find one he liked, he wrote his own, reportedly in a single evening.

The words and tune

“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.” The imagery is military, but the battle is spiritual. The hymn speaks of the church as one army, united in faith and hope, and of the gates of hell failing to stand against it. The hymn was first sung to another melody. In 1871, Arthur Sullivan, later famous for his comic operas with W. S. Gilbert, wrote a new tune for it, called St Gertrude. Its strong, marching rhythm made the hymn a favourite for processions and large gatherings.

Churchill and criticism

In August 1941, Winston Churchill met Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales off Newfoundland. At a Sunday service on deck, attended by British and American sailors, Churchill chose “Onward, Christian Soldiers” among the hymns. He later said the service moved him deeply. Some churches have dropped or revised the hymn because of its military language, arguing that it could be misunderstood as support for war. Others defend it as a hymn about spiritual struggle and Christian unity.

The author

Baring-Gould was a remarkable figure: a priest, novelist, folklorist and collector of English folk songs, with a huge family and a long life. He wrote many books and hymns, including “Now the Day Is Over”. None became as famous as the one he wrote for the children of Horbury Bridge. The next time a church choir processes in to St Gertrude, it is doing exactly what the hymn was written for: walking together behind a cross, singing, on the way to somewhere else.