Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Alexander, William
ALEXANDER, The Right Rev. William, D.D., Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, son of a clergyman beneficed in the north of Ireland, and nephew of Dr. Alexander, late Bishop of Meath, and cousin of the late Earl of Caledon, was born at Londonderry in April, 1824. He was educated at Tunbridge School, and at Exeter and Brasenose Colleges, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. and M.A. Having entered holy orders, he served a curacy in the north of Ireland, and was preferred to one or two livings in the gift of the Bishop of Derry. He was formerly Rector of Camus-juxta-Morne, co. Tyrone, and Chaplain to the Marquis of Abercorn, Lord-Lieutenant of lreland. In 1864 he was nominated to the Deanery of Emly, and in 1867 was an unsuccessful candidate for the chair of poetry at Oxford. He was appointed to the Bishopric of Derry and Raphoe, rendered vacant by the death of Dr. Higgin, July 12, 1867, being consecrated in St. Columb's Cathedral, Londonderry, Oct. 13 following. Soon after his elevation to the episcopal bench he was created D.D. at Oxford. He obtained, in 1860, the university prize at Oxford for a poem on a sacred subject; has published a Theological Prize Essay, a volume of poems, several lectures and sermons, papers on the Irish Church, and on dogmatic teaching from the pulpit, among the proceedings of the Church Congresses at Norwich and York, and has been a frequent contributor of prose and verse to periodical literature. His Bampton Lectures for 1876 were published under the title of "The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity." He is married to Miss Cecil Frances Humphries, who is herself well known as the author of "Moral Songs," "Hymns for Children," and "Poems on Old Testament Subjects."