Alexander, Michael Solomon

Alexander, Michael Solomon D.D., a missionary bishop of the Church of England, was born of Jewish parents, in the grand-duchy of Posen, in May, 1799. Very little is known of his youth and education. He was baptized a Christian at Plymouth, June 22, 1825, by the Rev. Mr. Hatchard, inducted to a curacy in Ireland, and ordained shortly after by the archbishop of Dublin. He was subsequently a home missionary of the Society for the Propagation of Christianity among the Jews, and professor of Hebrew in King's College. In 1841, when Chevalier Bunsen went to London on a mission for the establishment of a Protestant bishopric at Jerusalem, under the joint auspices of the sovereigns of England and Prussia, Dr. Alexander was consecrated to that important charge. Palestine, Chaldaa, Egypt, and Ethiopia were the four component countries of his diocese, and Egypt, being the least distant, claimed his first attention. Leaving Jerusalem for Cairo, he had proceeded as far as Ras el-Wady, a place within five hours' journey of the once populous city of Belbeis. Here the tents were pitched, Nov. 22, 1845, and the bishop retired to bed, but at one o'clock he was taken very ill and suddenly passed away. Dr. Alexander is described, by those who knew him well, as a Talmudist. and Hebrew scholar who had few superiors, and who, in the relations of private life, was the most amiable of men. See Christian Guardian and Church of England Magazine, March, 1846, p. 137.