Lyricist: Henry Alford

From HymnsWithoutWords

Henry Alford (1810 - 1871 was born in London, of a Somerset family, which had given five consecutive generations of clergymen to the Anglican church. In 1827 he went to study at Trinity College, Cambridge and in 1834 was made fellow of Trinity.

Having taken holy orders, in 1835 Alford began an eighteen-year tenure of the vicarage of Wymeswold in Leicestershire. He was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge in 1841-1842, and steadily built up a reputation as scholar and preacher.

In 1844, he joined the Cambridge Camden Society (CCS) which published a list of do's and don'ts for church layout which they promoted as a science. He commissioned A.W.N. Pugin to restore St Mary's church. He also was a member of the Metaphysical Society, founded in 1869 by James Knowles.

In September 1853 Alford moved to Quebec Chapel, Marylebone, London, where he had a large congregation. In March 1857 Lord Palmerston advanced him to the deanery of Canterbury, where, till his death, he lived the same energetic and diverse lifestyle as ever. He had been the friend of most of his eminent contemporaries, and was much beloved for his amiable character. The inscription on his tomb, chosen by himself, is Diversorium Viatoris Hierosolymam Proficiscentis (the inn of a traveller on his way to Jerusalem"').

External Links

* WikiPedia:Henry Alford