Cecil F. Alexander (1818-1895)

Source: hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk
Cecil Frances Alexander. Photograph by W&D Downey (c.1890)

Alexander, Cecil Frances

b: 1818, date unknown; Dublin
d: October 12, 1895; Derry

Family & Marriage

• Daughter of Major John Humphreys, a distinguished former marine who had served in the Napoleonic Wars
• Her father became agent to the Earl of Wicklow in 1825
• Her family were closely associated with the Protestant aristocracy of Ireland
• Married William Alexander, then a rector of a village in County Tyrone. Thereafter she was known as ‘Mrs Alexander’, signing her work ‘C.F.A.’.
• After serving in several parishes, her husband became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867, and Fanny led the life of a bishop’s wife until her death

Highlights & Accomplishments

• Published a book for Sunday-school teachers, Verses for Holy Seasons (1846) and Hymns for Little Children (1848)
• Much influenced by figures such as John Keble and Walter Farquhar Hook, the vicar of Leeds who wrote introductions to some of her publications
• Major publications also include: The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an allegory (1848); Moral Songs (1849); Narrative Hymns for Village Schools (1853); Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament (Part I, 1854, Part II, 1857); Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858); The Legend of the Golden Prayers, and other poems (1859). She also edited The Sunday Book of Poetry (1864)
• Her most notable production of her later years is St. Patrick’s Breastplate (‘I bind unto myself today*) (1889)
• A memorial window to her was dedicated in St Columb’s (Church of Ireland) Cathedral, Derry, in 1913.

Hymns included in the Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal

All Things Bright and Beautiful, SDAH 093
Once in Royal David’s City, SDAH 149
There Is A Green Hill Far Away, SDAH 164
Jesus Calls Us, SDAH 285

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