John Newton

John Newton composed Joshua's lesson piece Amazing Grace.
== Information on the person ==
John Newton was born on August 4, 1725 in London, Great Britain. His father, John Newton the Elder, was a shipmaster. Newton's mother died a few weeks before his seventh birthday, and he spent two years at a boarding school.
He began sailing with his father at age 11, and in 1743 was pressed into the Royal Navy. As a shipman and seaman, he was beaten and humiliated, and once became enslaved in West Africa before being rescued by a sea captain in 1748.
After returning to England in 1748, he began to study Christianity. He married Mary Catlett in 1750, and he became an Anglican priest. He wrote hymns, poems, and an autobiography. In 1788, he published a pamphlet on slave ship conditions he witnessed. His wife Mary died in 1790, and Newton expressed his grief through writing. Because of his failing health, he died on December 21, 1807 in London and was buried next to his wife.
== Pieces ==
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* Amazing Grace