William Alexander (bishop)

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William Alexander (1824–1911) was an Irish cleric in the Church of Ireland. He was born in Derry on the 13 April 1824, the third child of Rev Robert Alexander. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College Oxford. After holding several livings in Northern Ireland he was made bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867 and was elevated to the primacy in 1896 becoming the Primate of All Ireland. He was the last bishop to sit in the House of Lords before the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871. He gave the Bampton Lectures in 1876. An eloquent preacher and the author of numerous theological works, he is best known to literature as a master of dignified and animated verse. His poems were collected in 1887 under the title of St Augustine's Holiday and other Poems. His wife Cecil Frances Alexander wrote some tracts in connection with the Oxford Movement and is famous as the author of hymns such as Once in Royal David's City, There is a green hill far away and many other well known hymns. Bishop Alexander is mentioned as part of the procession in James Joyce's cyclops episode of Ulysses.