Heber, Reginald

(1773-1826)

   Born at Malpas, Cheshire, to a prosperous family, he was educated at Whitchurch grammar school and Brasenose College, Oxford. There he won several prizes, including the 1803 prize for the English verse "Palestine," which was set to music by Dr. Crotch in 1812. He was elected fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, in 1805. Ordained in 1807, he took over his father's living of Hodnet (he had died in 1804). Just after receiving the degree of doctor of divinity from Oxford University in 1823, he became bishop of Calcutta. He died at Trichinopoly and a statue of him was erected at Calcutta. In addition to Poems and Translations (1812) and A Journey through India (1828), he was a prolific poet and hymn writer. Four of his hymns are included in most current hymnbooks: "Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning," "By Cool Siloam's Shady Rill," "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," and "Holy, Holy, Holy." Some of his other poems: "Advent Sunday," "An Evening Walk in Bengal," "Epitaph on a Young Naval Officer," "Europe: Lines on the Present War," "Providence," "Sympathy," "Who Follows in His Train?"

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm). The Home Book of Modern Verse, Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. Henry Holt, 1953. The New Oxford Book of Christian Verse. Donald Davie, ed. Oxford University Press, 1981. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poetical Works of Crabbe, Heber, and Pollok, Lippincott, Grambo, 1854.