Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

hymnwriter A hymnwriter (or hymn writer, hymnist, hymnodist, hymnographer, etc.) is someone who writes the text, music, or both of hymns. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the composition of hymns dates back to before the time of David, who is traditional ...

and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "

All Things Bright and Beautiful "All Things Bright and Beautiful" is an Anglican hymn, also sung in many other Christian denominations. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander and were first published in her ''Hymns for Little Children'' of 1848. The hymn is commonly sung ...

", " There is a green hill far away" and the

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

Once in Royal David's City Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook ''Hymns for Little Children''. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett d ...

Biography

Alexander was born at 25 Eccles Street,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

(land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and his wife Elizabeth (née Reed). She was known by family and friends as Fanny. She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious work was strongly influenced by her contacts with the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

, and in particular with

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, is named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

, who edited ''Hymns for Little Children'', one of her anthologies. By the 1840s she was already known as a hymn writer and her compositions were soon included in

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

hymnbooks. She also contributed lyric poems, narrative poems, and translations of French poetry to ''

Dublin University Magazine The ''Dublin University Magazine'' was an independent literary cultural and political magazine published in Dublin from 1833 to 1882. It started out as a magazine of political commentary but increasingly became devoted to literature. The magazine ...

'' under various

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s. In 1833, Alexander went to live at Milltown House in

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

. (The building later became Strabane Grammar School until the school vacated the building in 2020.) While living there, she published a number of Christian books: ''Verses for Holy Seasons'' (1846), ''The Lord of the Forest and His Vassals'' (1847) – a children's

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

– and ''Hymns for Little Children'' (1848). By the close of the 19th century, ''Hymns for Little Children'' reached its 69th edition. Some of her hymns, such as "

", " There is a green hill far away" and the

", are known by Christians the world over, as is her rendering of "

Saint Patrick's Breastplate "Saint Patrick's Breastplate" is an Old Irish prayer of protection of the " lorica" type (hence "Lorica Sancti Patricii", or "The Lorica of Saint Patrick") attributed to Saint Patrick. Its title is given as ''Faeth Fiada'' in the 11th-century ''Li ...

".''an English rendering of the ancient Gaelic hymn...Alexander did not read Gaelic but worked from several literal and unmusical English translations sent to her by H.H. Dickinson, dean of the Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle.'' In Strabane in October 1850 she married the Anglican clergyman William Alexander, afterwards

Bishop of Derry The Bishop of Derry is an episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in ...

and

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

. Her husband also wrote several books of poetry, of which the best known is ''St. Augustine's Holiday and other Poems''. She was six years older than the clergyman, causing great family concern. Alexander published ''Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament'' in 1854, which includes the poem "The Burial of Moses," often utilized by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

during his encore performances. Her daughter, Eleanor Jane Alexander, was also a poet. Alexander was involved in charitable work for much of her life. Money from her first publications had helped build the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, which was founded in

in 1846. The profits from ''Hymns for Little Children'' were also donated to the school. She was involved with the Derry Home for

Fallen Women "Fallen woman" is an archaic term which was used to describe a woman who has "lost her innocence", and fallen from the grace of God. In 19th-century Britain especially, the meaning came to be closely associated with the loss or surrender of a ...

, and worked to develop a district nurses service. She was an "indefatigable visitor to poor and sick". She was criticised, however, for her endorsement of the

class system A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

, as expressed, for example, in the original third verse of "

": :The rich man in his castle, :The poor man at his gate, :God made them high or lowly, :And ordered their estate. Usually this verse is omitted from performances of the hymn, and was omitted from ''

The English Hymnal ''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and ...

'' (1906) and the revised edition of ''

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitabl ...

'' (1950). Memorial City Cemetery

Seven hymns penned by Alexander were included in the 1873 issue of the Church of Ireland Hymnal, and eighteen of her works were contained in ''A Supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern'' (1889). They continue to be well-accepted, as nine of her works were contained in both the 1960 and the 1987 editions of the Hymnal. A posthumous collection of her poems was published in 1896 by William Alexander, titled ''Poems of the late Mrs Alexander''. Alexander died at the Bishop's Palace in Derry and was buried in Derry City Cemetery. Her husband (who died in 1911) is buried beside her in a grave which was restored by the Friends of St Columb's Cathedral in 2006.

Commemorations

In 1913 a stained glass window by

James Powell and Sons The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were London-based English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained-glass window manufacturers. As Whitefriars Glass, the company existed from the 18th century, but became well kno ...

in her memory was installed in the north vestibule of

St Columb's Cathedral St Columb's Cathedral in the walled city of Derry, Northern Ireland, is the cathedral church and episcopal see of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. It is also the parish church of Templemore. It is dedicated to Saint Columba ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

, financed by public subscription. The three lights of the windows refer to three of her hymns and show corresponding scenes: "Once in Royal David's City", "There Is a Green Hill Far Away", and "The Golden Gates Are Lifted Up". An Ulster History Circle commemorative

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

was unveiled in her memory on 14 April 1995 at Bishop Street, Derry. Another plaque commemorates her residence at Milltown House.

In popular culture

Lukas Media LLC (FishFlix), released the full-length documentary ''The stories and Hymns of Cecil Frances Alexander and Joseph Scriven'' in 2011. The 45 minute documentary movie talks about the life of Cecil Frances Alexander and her influence on Christian hymns.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

* *
Hymns by Cecil Frances Alexander
at

Hymnary.org Hymnary.org is an online database of hymns, hymnodists and hymnals hosted by Calvin University's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The searchable database contains over one million hymn tunes and texts ...

Cecil Frances Alexander
''Ulster History Circle''
Cecil Frances Alexander
at

University of Toronto Libraries The University of Toronto Libraries system is the largest academic library in Canada and is ranked third among peer institutions in North America, behind only Harvard and Yale. The system consists of 40 libraries located on University of Toronto's ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Cecil Frances 1818 births 1895 deaths 19th-century Irish writers 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers Cecil Frances Anglican poets Irish Anglican hymnwriters Irish people of English descent Irish women poets Writers from Dublin (city) Women hymnwriters 19th-century Irish women musicians People from Strabane Writers from County Tyrone 19th-century Irish musicians