James_Frederick_Swift
James Frederick Swift
English organist and composer
James Frederick Swift (28 December 1847, Manchester[1] – 9 January 1931, Wallasey[2][n 1]) was an English organist and composer.[3] He mostly worked for religious establishments such as St Andrew's Church in Liverpool for 10 years, but he also composed around 200 non-religious songs and ballads under the pseudonym, Godfrey Marks.[1][4] One of his most famous songs is Sailing, Sailing. It is a possibility that Swift composed this work on seamanship based on his inspiration from Nancy Lee by Michael Maybrick,[5] despite that his daughter, Ruby Gertrude Swift, expressed that his father had never been close to seafaring activities.[6] One of his famous religious songs includes Ernstein.[4][7]