Edwin Warren Hatch (4 September 1835

Derby, England Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

– 10 November 1889

Oxford, England Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

) was an English

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. He is best known as the author of the book '' Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'', which was based on his 1888

Hibbert Lectures The Hibbert Lectures are an annual series of non-sectarian lectures on theological issues. They are sponsored by the Hibbert Trust, which was founded in 1847 by the Unitarian Robert Hibbert with a goal to uphold "the unfettered exercise of privat ...

and which were edited and published following his death. He is also remembered as the composer of the hymn "

Breathe on Me, Breath of God "Breathe on Me, Breath of God" is an English Christian hymn. It was written by Edwin Hatch, a Church of England vicar and the Professor of Classics at the University of Trinity College in Canada. It was first published privately in 1878 and publi ...

Biography

He was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, the son of Samuel Hatch, a grocer and accountant, and his wife Charlotte Mooney; Walter Mooney Hatch was his brother. He attended

King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent day school for boys in the British public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by King Edward VI in 1552, it is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Bir ...

, where he studied under

James Prince Lee James Prince Lee (28 July 1804 – 24 December 1869) was an English clergyman and schoolmaster who became head master of King Edward's School, Birmingham, and was later the first Bishop of Manchester. Early life Born in London, Lee was educa ...

; he was noted for his intellectual independence and study habits. He joined the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, baptised in 1852, having been raised a nonconformist, under the influence of John Cale Miller, rector of St Martin in the Bull Ring. Hatch matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1853, where he was a dominant figure in the

Birmingham Set The Birmingham Set, sometimes called the Birmingham Colony, the Pembroke Set or later The Brotherhood, was a group of students at the University of Oxford in England in the 1850s, most of whom were from Birmingham or had studied at King Edward's ...

. He graduated B.A. in 1857, and M.A. in 1867. In 1858, Hatch won the Ellerton Prize. That year, he was ordained deacon, and worked in London's East End. In 1859, he was ordained as an Anglican priest. He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

, where he was professor of classics at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

until 1862. Between then and his return to

in 1867, he served as rector of the High School of Quebec and professor of Classics at Morrin College, both in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

. He was vice-principal of St Mary Hall from 1867 until 1885. In 1884 he was appointed university reader in ecclesiastical history. Hatch was a

Bampton lecturer The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial ...

in 1880. He served as a

Grinfield lecturer Edward William Grinfield (1785–1864) was an English biblical scholar. Life He was the son of Thomas Grinfield and Anna Joanna, daughter of Joseph Foster Barham of Bedford, and brother of Thomas Grinfield. He was a schoolfellow of Thomas de ...

from 1880 to 1884, during which time he presented his concordance on the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

Works

*
The organization of the early Christian churches
' (1881) – the Bampton lectures of 1880; translated into German by Adolf von Harnack (Giessen, 1883) * *''The Growth of Church Institutions'' (1887)
''Essays in Biblical Greek''
(1889)
''A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal books)''
by Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath, assisted by many scholars (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897) *''Towards Fields of Light: Sacred Poems'' (1890) *''The God of Hope'' (1890) *''Memorials of Edwin Hatch'' (1890) including papers and sermons, edited by his brother Samuel C. Hatch
''The influence of Greek ideas and usages upon the Christian church''
(the “Hibbert Lectures,” edited by Andrew Martin Fairbairn, 1897) In 1873, Hatch edited ''The student's handbook to the University and colleges of Oxford'', which appeared in several revised editions during and after his time at the University. He wrote a small number of hymns, collected in the posthumous ''Towards Fields of Light'' . One that is noted is ''Breathe on me, Breath of God''. It appeared in the ''Congregational Psalmist Hymnal'' (1886) edited by

Henry Allon Henry Allon (1818–1892) was an English Nonconformist divine. Life He was born on 13 October 1818 at Welton, Elloughton-cum-Brough, near Hull, in Yorkshire. Under Methodist influence Henry Allon decided to enter the ministry, but, develo ...

. ''I dared not hope that thou wouldst deign'' was included in Garrett Horder's ''Hymns: Supplemental to Existing Collections" (1894).

Family

Hatch and his wife Evelyn had four children: Arthur Herbert Hatch (b. 1864), Beatrice Hatch (b. 1866), Ethel Hatch (b. 1869), and

Evelyn Hatch Evelyn Hatch (1871 or 1874 – 1951) was an English child friend of the adult Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name of Lewis Carroll. She was the subject of photographs by Dodgson and is often part of the contemporary discussion ...

(b. 1871).

Biography

Works

Family

Notes

Further reading