Christopher Wordsworth

For his father, Christopher Wordsworth the Master of Trinity (1774-1846), see Christopher Wordsworth (Trinity).
Bishop Wordsworth
Christopher Wordsworth, undated drawing by an anonymous artist.

Christopher Wordsworth (30 October 1807 – 20 March 1885) was an English bishop in the Anglican Church and man of letters.

Life

Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity and a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. He was the younger brother of the classical scholar John Wordsworth and Charles Wordsworth, Bishop of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane. He was educated at Winchester and Trinity, Cambridge.[1] Like his brother Charles, he was distinguished as an athlete as well as for scholarship. He won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for poetry in 1827 and 1828.[2]

He became senior classic, and was elected a fellow and tutor of Trinity in 1830; shortly afterwards he took holy orders. He went for a tour in Greece in 1832-1833, and published various works on its topography and archaeology, the most famous of which is "Wordsworth's" Greece (1839). In 1836 he became Public Orator at Cambridge, and in the same year was appointed Headmaster of Harrow, a post he resigned in 1844. In 1844 Sir Robert Peel appointed him as a Canon of Westminster[3] (1844–1869). He was Vicar of Stanford in the Vale, Berkshire (1850–1869) and Archdeacon of Westminster (1864–1869). In 1869 Benjamin Disraeli appointed him Bishop of Lincoln which he retained until his death in 1885.[3]

He was a man of fine character, with a high ideal of ecclesiastical duty, and he spent his money generously on church objects.

Works

As a scholar he is best known for his edition of the Greek New Testament (1856–1860), and the Old Testament (1864–1870), with commentaries; but his writings were many in number, and included a volume of devotional verse, The Holy Year (1862), Church History up to A.D. 451 (1881–1883), and Memoirs of his uncle, William Wordsworth (1851), to whom he was literary executor. His Inscriptiones Pompeianae (1837) was an important contribution to epigraphy. He also wrote several hymns (Hymns Ancient and Modern New Standard contains seven) of which perhaps the best known is the Easter hymn 'Alleluia, Alleluia, hearts to heaven and voices raise'.

With William Cooke, a Canon of Chester, Wordsworth edited for the Henry Bradshaw Society the early 15th century Ordinale Sarum of Clement Maydeston, but the work did not appear in print until 1901, several years after the death of both editors.[4]

Books

Hymns

A verse from Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost incorporated into a stained glass window

Family

In 1838 Wordsworth married Susanna Hartley Frere (d. 1884) and they had seven children. The elder son, John (1843–1911), was Bishop of Salisbury, founder of Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, and author of Fragments of Early Latin (1874); the eldest daughter, Elizabeth (1840–1932), was the first principal (in 1879) of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and the founder (in 1886) of St Hugh's College. His daughter Dora married Edward Tucker Leeke, Canon and sub-dean of Lincoln Cathedral. His younger son Christopher (1848–1938) was a noted liturgical scholar.

His Life, by J. H. Overton and Elizabeth Wordsworth, was published in 1888.

References

  1. ↑ "Wordsworth, Christopher (WRDT825C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ↑ University of Cambridge (1859). A Complete Collection of the English Poems which Have Obtained the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the University of Cambridge (PDF). Cambridge: W. Metcalfe. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  3. 1 2 "Studies In Familiar Hymns: First Series" by Dr. Louis Benson 1903
  4. 1 2 Book list at henrybradshawsociety.org, accessed 9 December 2013
  5. ↑ Scrivener, A plain introduction to the criticism of the New Testament (1861) at p. 150 notes: "John Twycross, of the Charter House, re-collated the whole manuscript in 1858". The death of Rev. John Twycross MA Dublin aged 72 is recorded in The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 224 (1868), p. 260
Attribution

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Christopher Wordsworth
Church of England titles
Preceded by
John Jackson		 Bishop of Lincoln
1869 – 1885 		Succeeded by
Edward King
Academic offices
Preceded by
Charles Longley		 Head Master of Harrow School
1836-1844 		Succeeded by
Charles John Vaughan
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