author
Alfred Ainger
1837–1904
A lively Victorian man of letters, he was known for warm, readable biographies and sharp but approachable literary criticism. His work helped keep figures like Charles Lamb and Thomas Hood vividly in view for later readers.
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. Alongside his clerical career, he built a strong reputation as a literary critic and biographer with a gift for bringing writers to life in an engaging, human way.
He became especially associated with Charles Lamb, editing Lamb’s letters and writings and helping shape the way many readers came to know him. Ainger also wrote on other major literary figures, including Thomas Hood and Crabbe, and was admired for criticism that was learned without feeling heavy.
Later in life he served as Master of the Temple. He died in 1904, remembered as both a churchman and a man of letters whose books opened nineteenth-century English literature to a wide general audience.