About Hymns Ancient & Modern
- The history and traditions

In 1858, two clergymen were in conversation during a journey on the old Great Western Railway and concluded that the Church of England needed a corporate hymn book, moulded from the various small high church collections available. One of them, Francis Murray, enlisted the help of Sir Henry Baker and, before long, in 1861 the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern was published by a committee, called the Proprietors, chaired by Sir Henry.The first music editor was William Monk who was said to have coined the phrase 'Ancient and Modern'.

More than 170 million copies later, the works of Baker and Monk survive in the year 2000 publication of A&M, Common Praise. 2010 will see the latest in a long line of hymn books with the publication of Sing Praise.
 
In 1975 the Proprietors formed a company limited by guarantee, and a registered charity, with the objects of promoting, mainly through publishing, the advancement of religion and supporting charities and institutions connected with, or sympathetic to the ideals of, the Church of England.