Life
1818-1895 [née Cecil Frances Humphreys; occas. err. Cecilia;
pseuds. ‘CFA’; ‘X’]; b. 1818 [var. 1825], Dublin [vars.
Co. Wicklow and Miltown Hse., nr. Strabane]; dg. and 3rd child of orig.
the former Elizabeth Reed and Major John Humphreys of Norfolk, land-agent
to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn; began
writing verse at early age; influenced in religion by Dr Hook, Dean of
Chichester, and subsequently by John Keble, who edited her Songs for
Little Children; contrib. lyric and narrative poems and French translations
to Dublin University Magazine under pseuds. [as supra]; her "Burial
of Moses" appeared anon. in Dublin University Magazine (1856)
causing Tennyson to profess it one of the few poems of a living author
he wished he had written; friendship with Lady [Harriet] Howard while
living at Ballykean, Co. Wicklow, collaborated on tracts, published separately
and then brought together; Lady Harriet died of consumption; issued Verses
for Holy Seasons (1846) The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals
(1847), allegory for children; Hymns for Little Children (1848);
influenced in religion by the Oxford movement; met Miss Hook and her brother
Dr. Hook, who edited her volume Verses for Holy Seasons, while
visiting her sister Anne Humphreys Maguire, in Leamington; m. Rev. William
Alexander Oct. 1850, Strabane Church, then recorder of Termonamongan,
diocese of Derry; six years older than he, causing great family concern,
and birthdate deferentially altered accordingly; resided at Derg Lodge,
Termonamongan before moving to Upper Fahan, on Lough Swilly, 1855; lived
at Strabane, 1860-67, with trips to France; William appt. bishop of Derry
and Raphoe in 1867; much involved with Derry Home for Fallen Women and
with the development of a district nurses service; indefatigable visitor
to poor and sick; seven of her hymns included in Church of Ireland Hymnal
(1873), the first to be authorised after Disestablishment, eighteen contained
in A Supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1889), nine appearing
in Church of Ireland Hymnal (1960, 1987 edns.); wrote elegies for
Mrs. Hemans, Robert Southey and Kaiser Wilhelm; d. 12 Oct., Derry; her
poems posthumously collected and edited by William Alexander in Poems
of the late Mrs Alexander (1896), with a "Memoir"; her home
in the episcopal residence in Derry is marked by a plaque. CAB
DNB JMC TAY DIB DIW RAF ODQ OCIL
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Works
Verses for Holy Seasons, ed. Dr. Hook (1846), Do., (London:
Bell & Daldy, 1858); Hymns for Little Children (1848); 4th
edn. 1850; 5th ed., 1852; edns., in 1857, 1862, 1864, 1867, 1878; 62nd
edn. 1884; pictorial edn., (London: CKS 1903), in all 69 edns. [infra];
The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, (1847), [an allegory for
children]; Moral Songs, &c. (1849), 2nd edn. [1850], another
edn. (1855), another edn., ill. L. Masters (1880), 14 edns.; Narrative
Hymns for Village Schools (1853); [var. title], Hymns for Village
Schools (1854; Poems of Subjects in the Old Testament (1854;
Dublin University Magazine, Vol. XLVII (1856): pp.462-64.; Hymns,
Descriptive and Devotional (1958), Do., (J. Masters & Co.
1880; The Legends of the Golden Prayers, and Other Poems
(London: Bell & Daldy 1859); Easy Questions on the Life of Our
Lord (London: Griffth & Farran 1891); Hymns for Children
(London: Marcus Ward & co. [1894]); William Alexander, ed. and pref.,
Poems of the Late Mrs Alexander ['CFA'] (London: Macmillan &
Co. 1896), five pts., with port [with Memoir by her husband]; A. P. Graves.
ed., Selected Poems from William and Cecil Frances Alexander (London:
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 1930); The Baron’s Little
Daughter (1838); Hymns for
Little Children (1848) contains "All things bright and beautiful!",
"There is a green hill far away" and "Once in Royal David’s
city"; Church of Ireland Hymnal (OUP
1960; 1987) include her hymns listed as Nos.: 97 [‘When wounded sore,
the stricken soul / Lies bleeding and unbounded’]; 98 ['When my lip confesses
/ Bitter shame and pride [...]'; 120 [‘His are the thousand sparkling
rills / That from a thousand fountains burst’]; 154 [‘The gold gates are
lifted / The doors are open wide’]; 177 ["James the Apostle"
- ‘For all they saints, a noble throng’]; 202 ["St Columba";
as infra]; 320 ["Eisighim Indiu", attrib.
St Patrick ['I bind unto myself today / The strong name of the Trinity’];
392 [‘There is a Green hill far away / Without a city wall / Where the
dear Lord was crucified / Who died to save us all’]; 602 ["All things
bright and beautiful!"]; 606 ["Do no sinful action"]; 624
["Once in Royal David’s city"].
- Eleanor Alexander, Primate Alexander: Archbishop of Armagh (London: Edward Arnold, 1914);
- W. O. Ernest, A Green Hill Far Away: The Life of Mrs. C .F. Alexander (Dublin/London: S.P.C.K. [Assoc. for Promoting Christian Knowledge], 1970);
- Seán MacMahon, ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful,’ [Appreciation], Eire-Ireland, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter 1975) [var. 10.3], pp.137-41;
- David Stevens, ‘Religious Ireland (II)’, in Edna Longley, ed., Culture in Ireland, Diversity or Division [Proceedings of the Cultures of Ireland Group Conference] (Belfast: QUB/IIS 1991), p.145;
- Valerie Wallace, Mrs Alexander: A Life of the Hymn-writer Cecil Frances Alexander 1818-1895 (Dublin: Lilliput Press 1995), viii, 198pp., noticed in ‘Brief Notes’, Times Literary Supplement (27 Oct. 1995), p.33, and by John Kirkaldy, Books Ireland (Sept. 1995), p.218;
- Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loebber, ‘Fiction Available to and Written for Cottages and their Children’, in Bernadette Cunningham and Máire Kennedy, eds., The Experience of Reading: Irish Historical Perspectives (Dublin: Rare Books Group 1999), p.150;
- P. J. Kavanagh, Voices in Ireland (London: Murray 1994);
- Katie Donovan, A. N. Jeffares, and Brendan Kennelly, eds., Ireland’s Women (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1994).
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Notes
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington:
Catholic Univ. of America 1904), gives bio-data: b. Dublin, dg. of Major
John Humphreys; influenced in religion by Dr Hook, Dean of Chichester,
and subsequently by John Keble, who edited her Songs [var. Hymns]
for Little Children; her poems collected and edited by William
Alexander after her death (Poems of the late Mrs Alexander, 1896);
Gounod remarked that the words “There is a green hill far away”
were so harmonious and rhythmic that they seem to set themselves to music;
“Burial of Moses” appeared anon. in Dublin University Magazine,
1856 and caused Tennyson to say it was one of the few poems of a living
author he wished he had written. [... &c.]
Oxford Literary Guide identifies Derg Lodge, Termonamongan as her home; cites Narrative Hymns for Village Schools (1853).
Alexander Leeper, DD, Canon of St Patrick’s, Historical Handbook of St Patrick’s Cathedral (1891), employed as an epigram for the chapter on Monuments her lines, ‘Amid the noblest of the land/We lay the sage to rest; / And give the bard an honoured place, / In the great Minster transept,/Where lights like glories fall, / And organ rings, / And the sweet choir sings, / Along the emblazoned walls.’
Dinah Craik [see infra] heard Cecil Alexander’s ballad "The Siege of Derry" shortly after it was written, she predicted that it would be as well known as Macaulay’s account in his History of England. (See P. J. Kavanagh, Voices in Ireland, 1994.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)