Prelude on Wareham

Edwin Cyril Burchett an Australian organist and composer.
Born 1884 Poowong (small dairying town located in South Gippsland)
Died 1966 Camberwell, Victoria

Little is known about him but it seems he was organist of Methodist churches in Melbourne including St David’s Uniting Church in Camberwell, Victoria, from 1929–57. He was also a teacher and one of his pupils in 1948 was Bruce Naylor who after study in the UK became organist of St George's Cathedral Perth.
He married Ethel GARDNER (1891-1956) and had two children Lincoln (1921) and Judith (1929).

He wrote this Prelude and about 16 other compositions for organ and some piano and choral works.
These organ pieces are listed in the CATALOGUE OF AUSTRALIAN ORGAN COMPOSITIONS 1866-2002.
Elegy in e mi.
Nightfall
Solemn prelude
Preludes 2, 3 (in G) and 4
Canzona in F
Andante in G major
Andante tranquillo
Andante in E flat
Choral prelude on ‘Adeste Fideles’
Prelude in C major
Choral prelude on ‘Oxford’ (Goss)
Offertory
Idyll 1940
Changing moods 1938

The Prelude on Wareham is an excellent composition and you might like to add it to your repertoire.

This Prelude might have been Burchett’s best composition but Wareham was definitely the best hymn penned by William Knapp.

William Knapp (b. Wareham, Dorsetshire, England, 1698; d. Poole, Dorsetshire, 1768) composed WAREHAM, so named for his birthplace. A glover by trade, Knapp served as the parish clerk at St. James's Church in Poole (1729-1768) and was organist in both Wareham and Poole. Known in his time as the "country psalm-singer," Knapp published A Set of New Psalm Tunes and Anthems (1738) and New Church Melody (1753). WAREHAM was published in his 1738 collection. The tune is easy to sing because of its almost continuous stepwise motion and smooth melodic Contour.
Much more about Knapp here;
https://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2013/02/the-one-hit-wonder-of-wareham-william-knapp/