Alexander, William

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM: 1. Anglican archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland; b. at Londonderry, Ireland, Apr.13,1824. He was educated at Tunbridge School and Exeter and Brasenose Colleges, Oxford (B.A., 1854). After his graduation he was successively curate of Derry Cathedral and rector of Termonamongan, Upper Fahan, and Camus-Juxta-Mourne (all in the diocese of Derry), while in 1863 he was appointed dean of Emly. Four years later he was consecrated bishop of Derry and Raphoe, and in 1896 was elevated to the archbishopric of Armagh and the primacy of all Ireland. He was select preacher to the University of Oxford in 1870-71 and Bampton Lecturer in 1876. He has written Leading Ideas of the Gospels (Oxford sermons, London, 1872); The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity (1877); commentaries on Colossians, Thessalonians, Philemon, and the Johannine Epistles, in The Speaker’s Commentary (1881); The Great Question and Other Sermons (1885); St. Augustine’s Holiday and Other Poems (1886); Discourses on the Epistles of St. John (1889); Verbum Crueie (1892); Primary Convictions (1893); and The Divinity of Our Lord (1886).

2. American Presbyterian; b. near Shirleysburg, Pa., Dec. 18, 1831; d. at San Anselmo, Cal., June 29, 1906. He was educated at Lafayette College and Jefferson College (B.A., 1858), and at Princeton Theological Seminary (1861). He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1862 and was pastor at Lycoming Church, Williamsport, Pa., in 1862-63. From 1863 to 1865 he was president of Carroll College and stated supply at Waukesha, Wis., and then held successive pastorates at Beloit, Wis. (1865-69) and San José, Cal. (1869-71). From 1871 to 1874 he was president of the City College, San Francisco, in addition to holding the professorship of New Testament Greek and exegesis in the San Francisco Theological Seminary, of which he was one of the founders in 1871. From 1876 until his death he was professor of church history in the latter institution. He was a member of the committee to revise the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1890-93 and was one of the editors of the Presbyterian and Reformed Review (now the Princeton Theological Review). In addition to a number of contributions of minor importance, he prepared the commentaries on the International Sunday-school lessons in 1881-83.