Alexander, Cecil Frances Humphreys

(1818-1895)

   Alexander was the wife of William Alexander, bishop of Derry and Raphoe, later the Anglican primate for Ireland. She and her sister founded a school for the deaf, and she set up the Girls' Friendly Society in Londonderry in 1877. She wrote about 400 hymns, as well as many poems. Four of her best known hymns are included in the current Methodist Hymn Book -Hymns and Psalms: "All Things Bright and Beautiful"; "Once in David's Royal City"; "There is a Green Hill Far Away"; and "Jesus Calls Us O'er the Tumult." By twenty-first century standards, some of her hymns could be classified as sentimental; however, they all contain the Gospel. She was encouraged in her writing by John Keble, who edited her Hymns for Little Children (1848), which went to 69 editions. She wrote poems and published in Dublin University Magazine. The second verse of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (although omitted from modern hymnbooks) contains a telling comment on the social order of the Victorian Age: rich and poor, high and lowly, are all estates ordained by God.

   Sources: Cecil Frances Alexander - Hymn Writer (www.ulsterhistory.co.uk). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Methodist Hymns and Psalms. London: Methodist Publishing House 1983. Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).