author
Alfred Ainger
1837–1904
A warm, lively Victorian man of letters, he was best known for bringing Charles Lamb’s life and work to new generations of readers. He also balanced literary scholarship with a long career in the Church of England, including service as Master of the Temple.
1 Audiobook
English Men of Letters: Crabbe
by Alfred Ainger
About the author
Born in London in 1837, Alfred Ainger was educated at King’s College London and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was ordained in the Church of England in 1860. Alongside his clerical work, he built a reputation as a biographer, critic, and editor with a special gift for writing about English literary figures in an approachable way.
Ainger is especially remembered for his work on Charles Lamb. His editions of Lamb’s letters and writings, and his biography of Lamb, helped keep that beloved essayist at the center of Victorian literary culture. He also wrote on other major writers, including Thomas Hood and George Crabbe, and was admired for mixing scholarship with wit and readability.
Later in life he became Master of the Temple, a prominent post at London’s Temple Church. Friends and readers remembered him as both a learned man and a genial one, and that combination gives his books much of their lasting charm.