Author: Stebbing, Henry
Biography:
STEBBING, Henry (1799-1883: ODNB)
Born 26 Aug. 1799 at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, he was the son of John Stebbing (1762-1826) and his wife, Mary Rede (1760-1843). Admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1818, in 1819 he migrated to Sidney College, only to return the following year to St John’s (BA 1823; MA 1827; DD 1839; ad eundem, Oxford, 1857). Ordained deacon in 1822 and priest in 1823, he was perpetual curate, Ilketsball St Laurence, Suffolk, 1826-67; second master under Edward Valpy at Norwich Grammar School, 1825-26; rector, Hughenden, Bucks, 1835-46; perpetual curate, St James' Chapel, Hampstead Road, London, 1835-57; chaplain, University College Hospital, Gower Street, 1835-79; rector, St Mary Somerset with St Mary Mounthaw, 1857-83 (united with St Nicholas Cole Abbey, 1866); and rector, Benet, Paul's Wharf, 1879-83. In 1826, he took in boarding and day pupils. On 21 Dec. 1824 at Catton church, Norwich, he married Mary (1805-1882), a daughter of William Griffin of Norwich. Of their seven sons and six daughters, three did not survive infancy; John, William, Beatrice, and Grace became writers; Thomas became a translator. In 1829, he was a steward of the RLF. The inaugural editor of the Athenaeum, in 1845 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society. An exceptionally prolific author and editor, besides The Wanderers (private circulation, 1817) and The Minstrel of the Glen (1818), he authored History of Chivalry and the Crusades (1830); Lives of the Italian Poets (1831, 1832, 1860); Poems of William Cowper, with A Memoir (1831); History of the Reformation (1836); Robinson Crusoe, and a Life of the Author (1838); Life and Times of John Calvin (1841); The Long Railway Journey, and Other Poems (1851); Jesus; a Poem, in Six Books (1851); Poems and Tales, With an Autobiographical Sketch (1851); Entire Works of John Bunyan (1859-60); and many polemical, doctrinal, and pastoral pamphlets and books, including several works on the Bangor controversy. He was acquainted with literary notables Coleridge, Southey, Moore, Scott, and Campbell (qq.v.). He died on 22 Sept. 1883 at St James' parsonage, Hampstead Road. His tomb is in Kensal Green Cemetery. (ODNB 2 July 2023; CCEd 2 July 2023; ACAD; Alumni Oxonienses; Boase, 3:719) JC