Bernard Braley

Writer and publisher of modern hymns

Bernard Braley, music publisher: born London 26 June 1924; married 1949 Joan Frost (one son, one daughter); died London 1 January 2003.

Bernard Braley was widely respected as a music publisher, as a Methodist who wanted Christians to worship honestly in a way that reflected life in the 20th century, and as a Christian who believed in the power of hymns, above all well-written, contemporary hymns, in all the churches.

He was born in 1924 in Highbury, north London, the only child of Arthur and Nellie Braley, and attended the City of London School for Boys. From 1943 to 1965 he worked for the Crusader Insurance Company, training as an actuary, qualifying as a Chartered Secretary, and from the late 1950s being in charge of the very early introduction of computer technology.

His family had been involved in the music publishers Stainer & Bell since 1912. As a child Bernard often spent Saturday mornings there. From 1950 he served the firm on an occasional basis and in 1958 he became company secretary, and was appointed to the board. In 1966 he became chairman of Stainer & Bell and managing director of the associated company Galliard Ltd, becoming managing director of Stainer & Bell in 1967.

Braley appears never to have had problems about the Christian faith itself, but he did have huge problems about the way it was expressed. At school he rebelled against compulsory chapel, and the Cadet Corps. After his marriage to Joan Frost in 1949 they lived in Reigate, Surrey, where they tried every church, and joined the Methodists. The minister there had a liberal outlook that attracted Braley and he assisted with the young people and with drama. In 1954 he became a Methodist local preacher.

The work with Galliard forced a move to Belton, Great Yarmouth, in 1966, and it was in collaboration with the Methodist minister at Gorleston, the Rev Kenneth Curtis, that Braley became involved in experimental worship and began, first privately with Belton Books, and then through Galliard, the publication of songs, hymns and worship material. The years 1967-69 saw the publication by Galliard of Faith, Folk and Clarity and the rest of that hugely successful and influential series. In 1969 he published In the Present Tense, the songs of Sydney Carter, author of "Lord of the Dance".

In 1969 the family moved to Finchley in north London, and Braley became a member of East Finchley Methodist Church. Here he produced The Lornehurst Bulletin, a home-produced worship resource with a circulation of several hundred. When this became too large to handle from home, Stainer & Bell produced Living Worship three times a year, which he edited with Michael Lehr up until 1974. Braley began to be in great demand all over the country to lead workshops on worship.

From the appearance of the Methodist hymn supplement Hymns and Songs in 1969 it became clear that there was a new movement in the writing of hymns that were modern but in the great tradition of John Wesley and Isaac Watts. Braley was enthusiastic in moving this forward. In particular he came to know Fred Pratt Green, with whom he worked to edit Partners in Praise (1979) and whose first collection of hymns he published in 1982, with a second in 1989.

With Pratt Green searching for a way to use his increasing royalties, Braley assisted him to found the Pratt Green Trust in 1984, and became its secretary. This ushered in a final stage of his work, to which he devoted much time after his retirement in 1987. In 2000 the trust published HymnQuest, in CD-Rom form (updated annually since), providing access to all the hymns current in Britain, both words and tunes. This project brought together Braley's early experience with computers, his knowledge of hymnody, his expertise in copyright, his concern for the worshipping needs of the churches and his huge organisational ability. He leaves a definitive collection of Fred Pratt Green's hymns for publication in 2003.

Braley wrote a number of hymns himself, and produced translations for The Galliard Book of Carols (1980). But his main contribution to the churches has been his unstinting support of new hymn writing at a time when the hymn itself has been in danger. His contribution to music publishing is the survival of Stainer & Bell, now almost unique in the industry as a privately owned publisher.

Bernard Braley was a rebel, and often a thorn in some people's flesh. But no one can impugn his integrity or deny his creativity.

Alan Luff