Christopher Wordsworth
1807-1885. Bishop of Lincoln. Son of a master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a nephew of the poet, he had a brilliant career in classics and mathematics at Cambridge. He was headmaster of Harrow from 1836 to 1844, when he became canon of Westminster. He was Hulsean Lecturer in 1848-49. He then took a country living until 1869, when he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln. His many ecclesiastical works include S. Hippolytus and the Church of Rome (1853), a reply to Bunsen; A Commentary on the Whole Bible (1856-70); and Church History to a.d. 451 (1881-83). In his Holy Year (1862) he provided hymns for every phase of every season. Some are still popular, eg., “Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost”; “See the Conqueror mounts in triumph”; and “O Lord of heaven and earth and sea.” A conservative High Churchman, he was involved in controversy with the Wesleyans in 1873.