Alford, Henry

ALFORD, HENRY: Dean of Canterbury; b. in London Oct. 7, 1810; d. at Canterbury Jan. 12, 1871. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1832), and was ordained deacon in 1833, priest in 1834, and elected a fellow of Trinity the same year; he became vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire, 1835, minister of Quebec Chapel, Marylebone, London, in 1853, and dean of Canterbury in 1857. He was a many-sided man, a good musician, a wood-carver and painter of some skill, a good preacher, and for many years a successful teacher of private pupils. His publications include sermons, lectures, essays and reviews, poems, hymns, a translation of the Odyssey in blank verse (London, 1861), an edition of the works of John Donne (6 vols., 1839), The Queen’s English (1864), and even a novel, Netherton on Sea (1869), written in collaboration with his niece (Elizabeth M. Alford). He was Hulsean lecturer for 1841-42 and published his lectures under the title, The Consistency of the Divine Conduct in Revealing the Doctrines of Redemption (2 vols.). He was the first editor of the Contemporary Review (1866-70). The great work of his life, however, was his Greek Testament (4 vols., London, 1849-61; thoroughly revised in subsequent editions), which introduced German New Testament scholarship to English readers, and involved a vast amount of patient labor. An outcome of this work was The New Testament for English Readers (4 vols., 1868) and a revised English version (1869). He was one of the original members of the New Testament Revision Committee. Near the close of his life he projected a commentary on the Old Testament, and prepared the Book of Genesis and part of Exodus, which were published posthumously (1872).

Bibliography: H. Alford, his Life, Journals, and Letters, by his widow, London, 1873; DNB, i. 282-284.