The Story of ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks’

by Gunther Simmermacher · Published December 25, 2022 · Updated December 15, 2022

Angel of the Lord visited the shepherds and informed them of Jesus’ birth, fresco in the Shepherds’ Fields Church, Bethlehem, Israel

One might say that the much-loved “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” was the first Anglican Christmas carol: before its appearance in 1700, only the Psalms of David were allowed to be sung in Anglican churches. The lyrics were written by two Irishmen, Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady.

As the title suggests, the hymn tells of the annunciation to the Shepherds, and so thematically it accompanies carols such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. Indeed, these two provide a good two-parter in the episode of the Nativity narrative in Luke’s Gospel, involving the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem that first Christmas. First the angel of the Lord comes down to frighten the flock-watching shepherds and then deliver glad tidings of great joy: the birth of “a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord”. Then the seraph disappears, and, hark, a host of singing angels appears for the sequel.

The shepherds aren’t just random or peripheral figures in the nativity story. God chose the lowest class in society, smelly shepherds, to be the first recipients of the Good News — not the priest or the mayor. In doing so, God reveals his option for the poor. In a class-dominated society as England in 1700, that significance was rather glossed over (as it is by many Christians today). Tate and Brady’s lyrics gave us the story straight, with no concern for why God sent the angels to the shepherds.

Of the two writers, Nahum Tate was the bigger name. The son of a Puritan cleric, he was born in Dublin in 1652, and moved to England as a young man. There he made his name as a poet, writer, librettist and playwright. In 1692 he was named England’s poet laureate, a position he held until his death in 1715.

A version of the lyrics of “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” from 1733, and the writers: Nicholas Brady (top) and Nahum Tate

Tate was not uncontroversial. The Catholic poet Alexander Pope took a dim view of Tate’s poetry, and Shakespeare fans might not have been amused by Tate’s rewrite of King Lear, which gave the Bard’s tragedy a thoroughly happy ending (he would have been a successful Hollywood scriptwriter, had he been born 300 years later). Tate, a man of downcast demeanour, died while hiding from debtors on July 30, 1715.

His friend Nicholas Brady (1659-1726) was also born in Ireland and, like Tate, graduated from Holy Trinity in Dublin. Unlike Tate, Brady became an Anglican cleric. A fervent supporter of the so-called Glorious Revolution, which deposed the Catholic King James II, he moved to London around 1690. There he made an impression as a poet, which brought him into contact with Tate.

The two collaborated in writing the landmark New Version of the Psalms of David. “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” was first published in 1703. It is said that Brady supervised the theological direction and Tate provided the poetry.

The first Anglicans to sing the hymn didn’t do so to the melody we know today. Possibly the first tune used was the English folk song “Ilkley Moor”. The melody used today in Britain and its former colonies, including South Africa, actually predates Tate and Brady’s words: it’s adapted from the 1553 hymn “Winchester Old” by Christopher Tye, from his work “Actes of the Apostles”.

Tye, who was born around 1505 and died some time before 1573, was an English composer and organist. As the choirmaster of Ely cathedral, he was the music teacher of Edward VI, the child king of England and son of Henry VIII.

The first record of “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” being set to Tye’s tune dates to 1861. In the US, hymnbooks may include the Tye tune, or one adapted from George Frederic Handel’s 1728 opera Siroe, or even both.

For more stories behind the carols see www.scross.co.za/category/features/biography-of-hymns/