{{short description|19th century English biographer and critic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Alfred Ainger | image = Alfred Ainger by Hugh Goldwin Rivière.jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = Portrait of Alfred Aigner by Hugh Goldwin Rivière | birth_date = {{birth date|1837|2|9|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1904|2|8|1837|2|9|df=y}} | death_place = | occupation = Biographer and critic | nationality = English }}
'''Alfred Ainger''' (9 February 1837{{snd}}8 February 1904) was an English biographer and critic.
==Biography== The son of an architect in London, he was educated at University College School, King's College London and Trinity College, Cambridge,<ref>{{acad|id=ANGR856A|name=Ainger, Alfred}}</ref> from where he subsequently entered the Church, and, after holding various minor preferments (including teaching at Sheffield Collegiate School from 1864 to 1866),<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Ainger, Alfred|volume=1|page=440}}</ref> became Master of the Temple in July 1894.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26531 |date=13 July 1894 |page=4021 }}</ref> He was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria 28 January 1895,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26593 |date=29 January 1895 |page=548 }}</ref> and a Chaplain-in-Ordinary to her Majesty 2 March 1896.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26717 |date=3 March 1896 |page=1268 }}</ref>
He wrote memoirs of Thomas Hood and George Crabbe, but is best known for his biography of Charles Lamb and his edition of Lamb's works in 6 volumes (1883–88).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''The Life and Works of Charles Lamb'' edited by Alfred Ainger|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=October 1900|volume=192|pages=312–335|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c022733384;view=1up;seq=324}}</ref> He was a contributor the Dictionary of National Biography, writing the entries on Lamb, Alfred Tennyson, Frederick Tennyson, Charles Tennyson Turner and George du Maurier, under the initials "A.A.".
In 1906 Edith Sichel published a 354-page biography of Ainger.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sichel, Edith|title=Life and letters of Canon Ainger|year=1906|location=London|publisher=A. Constable & Co.|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000114624}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Athenaeum| title=Review of ''The Life and Letters of Alfred Ainger'' by Edith Sichel|issue= 4117|date=22 September 1906|pages=325–326|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$c108339;view=1up;seq=241}}</ref>
==Works== * [https://archive.org/details/crabbealfred00ainguoft Crabbe] (1903),<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=3966|date=31 October 1903|title=Review of ''Crabbe'' by Alfred Ainger|pages=573–574|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000329798;view=1up;seq=587}}</ref> in the ''English Men of Letters'' series * [https://archive.org/details/charleslamb00aingiala Charles Lamb] (1908) * The Letters of Charles Lamb ([https://archive.org/details/letterscharlesl00ainggoog Volume I] – [https://archive.org/details/lettersofthechar024496mbp Volume II]) * [https://archive.org/details/lecturesessays01aing Lectures and essays (Volume 1)] * [https://archive.org/details/lecturesessays02aing Lectures and essays (Volume 2)]
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature}}
==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} {{Wikiquote}} * {{Gutenberg author| id=3834| name=Alfred Ainger}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alfred Ainger}}
{{Masters of the Temple}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ainger, Alfred}} Category:1837 births Category:1904 deaths Category:People educated at University College School Category:19th-century English Anglican priests Category:English biographers Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Contributors to the Dictionary of National Biography Category:Masters of the Temple
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