John Byrom  John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn "Christians awake! Salute the happy morn", which was supposedly a Christmas gift for his daughter. Byrom was descended from an old genteel Lancashire family. Ralph Byrom came to Manchester from Lowton in 1485 and became a prosperous wool merchant. His son Adam acquired property in Salford, Darcy Lever, Bolton and Ardwick (though his wealth did not prevent his mentally ill daughter from being accused of witchcraft). Edward Byrom helped to foil a Royalist plot to seize Manchester in 1642. Byrom was born at what is now The Old Wellington Inn (part of the Old Shambles), Manchester, in 1692. (The property was then used as an office for market tolls, with accommodation on the upper floors.) The Wellington Inn, now a major tourist attraction, has a plaque in the bar area which commemorates his birth. However, some sources claim that he was born at Kersal Cell in Lower Kersal in the township of Broughton, near Salford, just outside Manchester. According to Bailey he was one of the tallest men in the kingdom. His privileged background enabled him to obtain an excellent education, including The King's School, Chester, and Merchant Taylors' School, London. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, becoming a fellow there in 1714. He subsequently travelled abroad and studied medicine at Montpellier in France. Byrom invented a system of shorthand and, having perfected this, returned to England in 1716. Some of the inhabitants of Manchester tried to persuade him to set up a medical practice in the town, but he decided that his abilities were insufficient to pursue a medical career and resolved to teach his shorthand system instead. Shortly after coming into his family inheritance in 1740, he patented his "New Universal Shorthand". This system of shorthand, officially taught at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, was used by the clerk of the House of Lords. On 16 June 1742, His Majesty George II secured to John Byrom, M.A., the sole right of publishing for a certain term of years (21) the art and method of shorthand invented by him. His system of shorthand was posthumously published as "The Universal English Shorthand" which, although superseded in the nineteenth century, marked a significant development in the history of shorthand.