Church of Ireland (Anglican)
Cecil Frances Alexander
Born in Dublin in 1818, Cecil Frances was the second daughter of Major John and Mrs Elizabeth Humphreys. When her father, a veteran of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, later became the agent for the Marquis of Abercorn, the family moved to Strabane.
From about 1833 the Humphreys family lived in Milltown House, just outside the town.
It was here that she met and later married the Reverend William Alexander, who was later to become the Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. It was during her time in Strabane that Fanny wrote many of her famous hymns, including, All Things Bright
and Beautiful, There is a Green Hill Far Away and Once in Royal David’s City.
William and Fanny had four children;
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Jocelyn who married his cousin Alice Humphreys and who was killed in 1918 when a German submarine torpedoed the S.S. Leinster en route from Holyhead to Kingston. He is buried in the City Cemetery.
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John, born in 1855 and who died in 1910, his wife Eva and his only child predeceased him. John is buried in the City Cemetery.
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Eleanor, born in 1857. She did not marry and looked after her father during his later years. She died at Hampton Court Palace in 1939 and was buried in her parents grave in the City Cemetery.
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Dorothea, born in 1860 and married John Bowen from Burt in South Africa. They were close friends of Cecil Rhodes. Their only son, Cecil, was killed in action in Norway in 1940. Cecil had twin sons, one of whom Michael, served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Southwark from 1977 to 2003.
Fanny died in Derry in 1895 just four months before William was appointed Archbishop
of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. William retired in 1911 and died later that year
in Torquay. They are both buried in the City Cemetery.