Julian's Account:
Frederick Whitfield, B.A., son of H.Whitfield was born at Threapwood, Shropshire, Jan. 7th 1829, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took his B.A. in 1859. On being ordained, he was successively curate of Otley, vicar of Kirby Ravensworth, senior curate of Greenwich, and vicar of St. John's Bexley. In 1875 he was preferred to St. Mary's, Hastings. Mr. Whitfield's works in prose and verse number upwards of thirty, including Spiritual Unfolding from the Word of Life; Voices from the Valley Testifying of Jesus; The Word Unveiled; Gleanings from Scripture, etc. Several of his hymns appeared in his Sacred Poems and Prose, 1861, Second Series 1864, The Casket and Quiet Hours in the Sanctuary. The hymn by which he is most widely known is "I need Thee, precious Jesus".
The hymn by Whitfield in 'Spiritual Songs' is no. 184.
"There is a Name we love to hear".
Julian has this account of it:
"There is a Name I love to hear" 'The Name of Jesus', published in 1855 in hymns sheets and leaflets in various languages. From this Hymn, "Jesus the Name I love so well" is taken.
The hymn is included in all editions of the Little Flock hymn Book from 1856 to 1978.
The unfair treatment that some hymns are given is illustrated in the account by Julian of another hymn by Whitfield, "I need Thee precious Jesus".
This hymn was included in Whitfield's Sacred Poems and Prose. When this volume was published in 1861, the author found that his first stanza, which began "I need Thee precious Jesus, for I am full of sin" was omitted without his sanction, and the hymn began with stanza 2; "I need Thee precious Jesus, for I am very poor". Although the author at once reprinted the full text in self-defence, the mutilated hymn came into common use, and was generally received as the original.