HEBER, REGINALD: Anglican bishop of Calcutta; b. at Malpas (14 m. s.s.e. of Chester) Apr. 21, 1183; d. at Trichinopoly (30 m. w. of Tanjore) Apr. 3, 1826. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1805 was elected fellow of All Souls. He then traveled for two years, and on his return was ordained priest and succeeded his father as rector of HodnetfShrepshire. After an active service there as parish priest, he was made a prebendary of St. Asaph in 1812, and three years later was appointed Bampton lecturer at Oxford, and in 1822 preacher at Lincoln's Inn. He had already become conspicuous for his interest in missions, especially in India, and on the death of T. F. Middleton, the first bishop of Calcutta, the administration of the diocese, which then comprised

the whole of India, was offered to Heber. After much hesitation, he accepted, and was consecrated on June 1, 1823, by the archbishop of Canterbury. Four months later he reached Calcutta, and at once took up his episcopal duties, his task being rendered the more severe by the lapse of more than a year since Middleton's death. Between June, 1824, and Oct., 1825, he visited Bombay and Ceylon, and on Jan. 30, 1826, began his second diocesan tour. At the same time he made a study of the problem of caste, which he was willing to retain so far as it was political rather than religious. His attention was also occupied by a controversy which had broken out among the Christians of St. Thomas on account of the Syrian priests mentioned above.

The chief works of Heber were as follows: Pales tine (Oxford, 1807), one of the few prize poems of permanent value, and often reprinted and translated; Poems and Translations (London, 1812); The Personality and Ofce of the Christian Comforter (Bampton Lectures, Oxford, 1816); and an edition of the complete works of Jeremy Taylor (15 vols., London, 1822); while his widow edited the following: Hymns, Written. and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827); Journey through India from Calcutta to Bombay, with Notes upon Ceylon, and a Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces (2 vols., 1828); Sermons Preached in England (1829); Sermons Preached in India (1830); and his journal of his European tour in her biography of her husband (1830). The first complete edition of his poems appeared at London in 1841. Heber was also the author of nearly sixty hymns, some of which are conspicuous for their beauty, and have attained wide popularity. Among them special mention may be made of the following: " Brightest and best of the sons of the morning;" " The Son of God goes forth to war;" "Bread of the world, in mercy broken;" " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty;" and the missionary hymn " From Greenland's icy mountains."

Bibliography: Life, by his widow, 2 vols., London, 1830; T. Robinson, The Last Days of Bishop Heber, London, 1830; T. A. Smyth, The Character and Religious Doctrines of Bishop Heber, London, 1831; G. Bonner, Memoir of the Life of Reginald Heber, Cheltenbam 1833; T. Taylor, Life and Writings of . Reginald Heber, London, 1836; Jas. Chambers, Bishop Heberand Indian Missions, ondon, 1846; J. N. Norton, Life of Bishop Heber, New York, 1870; A. J. C. Hare Memorials of a Quiet Life, 2 vols., London, 1873; DNB, ncv (1891), 355-357.