Cecil Frances Alexander

Short Name: Cecil Frances Alexander
Full Name: Alexander, Cecil Frances, 1818–1895
Birth Year: 1818
Death Year: 1895

Biography:
Alexander, Cecil Frances, née Humphreys, was born in Redcross, County Wicklow, Ireland, in April 1818. As a child, she wrote poetry in her school’s journal. In 1850, she married Rev. William Alexander, later Anglican Primate of Ireland. She devoted herself to visiting the sick and poor, distributing food, warm clothing, and medical supplies, and, together with her sister, founded a school for the deaf.

Strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and John Keble’s Christian Year, she wrote over four hundred hymns, mostly for children, in simple language. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Holy Seasons (1846), was followed by Hymns for Little Children (1848), Narrative Hymns for Village Schools (1853), Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858), Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament (1854–1857), The Legend of the Golden Prayers (1859), and other contributions to collections such as Lyra Anglicana, S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, and Hymns Ancient & Modern.

She excelled as a writer for children but also wrote more elaborate hymns for general use. Her work combines simplicity, devotional accuracy, and a focus on moral and spiritual instruction.

Alexander died at Londonderry, Ireland, on October 12, 1895. Posthumous collections of her hymns were edited by Archbishop Alexander and published in 1896.

Notes:

• Hymns dated 1848 are from Hymns for Little Children.

• Hymns dated 1853 are from Narrative Hymns for Village Schools.

• Hymns dated 1875 are from the 1875 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern.

• Several new hymns were included in the 1891 Draft Appendix to the Irish Church Hymnal.

Publications:

• Verses for Holy Seasons, 1846

• Hymns for Little Children, 1848

• Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853

• Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, 1858

• Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, 1854–1857

• The Legend of the Golden Prayers, 1859