Henvy Virtue Tebbs

Tebbs, Henry Virtue, was born in Chelsea in 1797. He was a Proctor in Doctors' Commons, and joined in establishing the first Sunday School in Chelsea. Most of his later years were spent on the Continent, mostly at Pegli, near Genoa, and where, mainly through his exertions, a Church for the English congregation was erected and where he died Nov. 27, 1876. (Record, Dec. 23,1876.) His hymn "Come to me, Lord, when first I wake" (Morning) was written for his wife's birthday, March 16, 1851, and circulated in MS. for some years. In 1866 it was printed in the N. Y. Hours at Home, and then in the Hymnal Companion and other collections. It has been translated into 17 languages, and has also been embossed for the blind.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)