Cecil Frances Alexander

Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "All Things Bright and Beautiful", "There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's City". Biography Alexander was born at 25 Eccles Street, Dublin, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys of Norfolk (land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and his wife Elizabeth (née Reed). She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious work was strongly influenced by her contacts with the Oxford Movement, and in particular with John Keble, who edited Hymns for Little Children, one of her anthologies. By the 1840s she was already known as a hymn writer and her compositions were soon included in Church of Ireland hymnbooks. She also contributed lyric poems, narrative poems, and translations of French poetry to Dublin University Magazine under various pseudonyms.<ref name=Poemhunter>{{cite web|url=http://www.poemhunter.com/cecil-frances-alexander/biography/ | publisher=Poem Hunter | title=Cecil Frances Alexander| access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> In 1833, Alexander went to live at Milltown House in Strabane. While living there, she published a number of Christian books: Verses for Holy Seasons (1846), The Lord of the Forest and His Vassals (1847) – a children's allegory – and Hymns for Little Children (1848). By the close of the 19th century, Hymns for Little Children reached its 69th edition. Some of her hymns, such as "All Things Bright and Beautiful", "There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's City", are known by Christians the world over, as is her rendering of "Saint Patrick's Breastplate".