Wordsworth, Christopher

Wordsworth, Christopher, 1774–1846, English clergyman, educator, and writer; youngest brother of William Wordsworth. He was master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1820 to 1841. Most noted of his books is Ecclesiastical Biography (6 vol., 1810).

His second son, Charles Wordsworth, 1806–92, became a prelate in Scotland. From 1847 to 1854 he was warden of Trinity College, Glenalmond, Perthshire. In 1853 he was consecrated bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane. He was deeply interested in reuniting the churches of England and Scotland. His many books include Shakespeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible (1864).

See his Annals of My Early Life, 1806–46 (1891) and Annals of My Life, 1847–56 (ed. by W. E. Hodgson, 1893).

Christopher Wordsworth, 1807–85, English prelate and scholar, was the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth. Ordained a priest in 1835, he was headmaster (1836–44) of Harrow and thereafter canon and then archdeacon of Westminster until in 1869 he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln. He wrote Athens and Attica (1836) and other works of classical scholarship, but he is most noted for his editing of the entire Bible, with commentaries—the New Testament (1856–60) and the Old Testament (1864–70).

See biography by J. H. Overton and E. Wordsworth (1888).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Protestant Christianity: Biographies