Christopher Wordsworth

30 October 1807—21 March 1885

CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH is of a literary family, and was highly favored in his early surroundings. His father, whose name he bears, was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, England (1820–1841), and author of an Ecclesiastical Biography and Christian Institutes. His mother was Priscilla, a daughter of Charles Lloyd, Esq., an eminent banker of Birmingham. William Wordsworth, the Poet Laureate, was his father’s elder brother. His grandfather, John Wordsworth, was learned in the law, of which he was a successful practitioner. His elder brother, Charles, is the Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane.

Christopher Wordsworth was born October 30, 1807, at Booking, Braintree, Essex, of which his father, at the time, was Dean and Rector. He was educated for the ministry; prepared for college at Westminster School; entered (1826) Trinity College, Cambridge (of which his father was the Master, and Vice-Chancellor of the University); received (1827) the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for the best English Poem, subject, “The Druids”; in 1828, took the Porson prize for the best translation of a passage from Shakespeare into Greek verse, and the Sir Wm. Browne Medal for the best Latin Ode, subject, “Hannibal”; also his Medal for the best Greek and Latin Epigrams; in 1830, took one of the Chancellor’s Gold Medals for the two best proficients in classical learning among the commencing Bachelors of Arts; and the same year, took his degree of A.B., and was chosen a Fellow of his College, having completed a brilliant university career.

The greater part of the years 1832 and 1833, he spent in Greece, of which visit he published a journal by the name of Athens and Attica, “a gem of classical criticism and research.” In July 1833, he took his degree of A.M.; December 22, 1833, was ordained a Deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln; and June 7, 1835, a Priest by the Bishop of Carlisle. He was elected February 3, 1836, Public Orator of the University of Cambridge; and in April, Head Master of Harrow School, occupying the position until November, 1844. “By Royal Mandate,” he received the degree of D.D., in 1838, from the University of Cambridge. The same year he married Susanna Hatley, a daughter of George Frere, Esq., of Twyford House, Berkshire.

His Inscriptiones Pompeianae was published in 1837; his Greece: Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical in 1839; his Sermons Preached at Harrow School, in 1841; his Theophilus Anglicanus in 1843; and his Discourses on Public Education in 1844. He was preferred (1844) by Sir Robert Peel to a Canonry in Westminster Abbey. He was Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge, 1847–1848 and 1848–1849, and his two Courses of Lectures were published, On the Canon of the Scriptures, and on The Apocalypse. He also published his Diary in France (1845); Letters on the Church of Rome (1847); Babylon (1850); Memoirs of Wm. Wordsworth (1851); St. Hippolytus and the Church of Rome (1853); and his edition of The New Testament in the Original Greek, with “Copious English Notes,” 4 Parts, in 1856–1860. Seven volumes of Sermons Preached in Westminster Abbey were issued intermediately (1850–1859). These were followed by Five Lectures Delivered in Westminster Abbey on the Inspiration of the Bible, and five more on . . . the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments in 1861.

His favorite hymns mostly appeared in his Holy Year, or Hymns for Sundays and Holy-Days and for other Occasions (1862). His Journal of a Tour in Italy appeared in 1863; and The Holy Bible, with Notes and Introductions, in parts, at various dates, after 1864. His Church of Ireland was published, 4 sermons in 1866, and 8 sermons in 1869; his Union with Rome in 1867, and his Sermons on the Maccabees and the Church, in 1871. Besides these, his principal publications, he has issued, at various periods of his active life, numerous occasional sermons and essays, and edited several literary works.

In 1850, he was preferred to the Vicarage of Stamford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, and February 24, 1869, he was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. Several of his hymns have acquired considerable popularity, especially his hymn on “The Holy Day of Rest,” beginning with “O day of rest and gladness.”

by Edwin Hatfield
Poets of the Church (1884)

Featured Hymns:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hearts to heaven and voices raise
See the Conqueror mounts in triumph

Publications of Hymns:

The Holy Year

1st ed. (1862): PDF
New ed. (1862): WorldCat
3rd ed., rev. (1863): Archive.org
New ed. (1864): PDF
Additional Hymns for the Holy Year (1864): WorldCat
— ed. (1865): PDF
with Tunes (1865): Archive.org
5th ed. (1868): WorldCat
6th ed. (1872): PDF

Manuscripts:

For a detailed list of manuscript collections, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Related Resources:

Edwin Hatfield, “Christopher Wordsworth,” The Poets of the Church (NY: A.D.F. Randolph & Co., 1884), pp. 686–689: Archive.org

John Henry Overton & Elizabeth Wordsworth, Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln, 1807–1885 (London: Rivingtons, 1888): Archive.org

J.H. Overton & John Julian, “Christopher Wordsworth,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, with Suppl. (London: J. Murray, 1907), pp. 1293–1294, 1729: Google Books

Arthur C. Benson, “Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln,” The Leaves of the Tree: Studies in Biography (NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1911), pp. 355–387: Archive.org

Sheila Doyle, “Christopher Wordsworth,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/c/christopher-wordsworth

Margaret Pawley, “Christopher Wordsworth,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29971

Christopher Wordsworth, Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/person/Wordsworth_Christopher