Catherine Winkworth was an English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 translator. She is best known for bringing the German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 chorale

Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....

 tradition to English speakers with her numerous translations of hymns.

Biography

Catherine Winkworth was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 at 20 Ely Place, Holborn

Holborn

Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

. She was the fourth daughter of Henry Winkworth, a silk merchant. Winkworth lived most of her life in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. She studied also under the Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 minister, Rev. William Gaskell

William Gaskell

The Reverend William Gaskell was an English Unitarian minister, charity worker and pioneer in the education of the working class...

 and with the English philosopher Dr. James Martineau

James Martineau

James Martineau was an English religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism. For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College, the principal training college for British Unitarianism.-Early life:He was born in Norwich,...

. Her sister Susanna Winkworth (1820–1884) was also a translator, mainly of German devotional works.

She spent a year in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, during which time she took an interest in German hymnody. Around 1854, she published her book Lyra Germanica, a collection of German hymns which she had chosen and translated into English. A further collection followed in 1858. During 1863, she published The Chorale Book for England which was coedited by the composers William Sterndale Bennett

William Sterndale Bennett

Sir William Sterndale Bennett was an English composer. He ranks as the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school-Biography:...

 and Otto Goldschmidt

Otto Goldschmidt

Otto Moritz David Goldschmidt was a German composer, conductor and pianist, known for his piano concertos and other piano pieces...

, and in 1869 she followed this with Christian Singers of Germany. According to The Harvard University Hymn Book, Winkworth "did more than any other single individual to make the rich heritage of German hymnody available to the English-speaking world." Four examples of translations by her hand are published in The Church Hymn Book 1872 (Nos 344, 431, 664 and 807).

In addition to translating hymns, Winkworth was deeply involved in promoting women's rights, and was the secretary of the Clifton Association for Higher Education for Women, a supporter of the Clifton High School for Girls

Clifton High School (Bristol)

Clifton High School is an independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded as Clifton High School for Girls in 1877 by visionaries including John Percival, the first Headmaster of Clifton College...

, where a house is named after her, and a member of the Cheltenham Ladies' College

Cheltenham Ladies' College

The Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.-History:The school was founded in 1853...

. She was likewise governor of the Red Maids' School

Red Maids' School

The Red Maids' School is an independent school for girls in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. The school is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and a MyDaughter school.-History:...

 in Westbury-on-Trym in the city of Bristol, England .

According to the Encyclopedia of Britain by Bamber Gascoigne (1993), it was she who, learning of General Charles James Napier

Charles James Napier

General Sir Charles James Napier, GCB , was a general of the British Empire and the British Army's Commander-in-Chief in India, notable for conquering the Sindh Province in what is now Pakistan.- His genealogy :...

's ruthless, unauthorized, and successful campaign to conquer the Indian province of Sind, "...remarked to her teacher that Napier's despatch to the governor general of India, after capturing Sind, should have been Peccavi (Latin for 'I have sinned'). She sent her joke to the new humorous magazine Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

, which printed it as a factual report under Foreign Affairs. As a result the pun has usually been credited to Napier."

Catherine Winkworth died suddenly of heart disease near Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 on 1 July 1878 and was buried in Monnetier

Monnetier-Mornex

Monnetier-Mornex is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.-References:*...

, in Upper Savoy. A monument to her memory was erected in Bristol Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England, and is commonly known as Bristol Cathedral...

. She is commemorated as a hymnwriter with John Mason Neale

John Mason Neale

John Mason Neale was an Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer.-Life:Neale was born in London, his parents being the Revd Cornelius Neale and Susanna Neale, daughter of John Mason Good...

 on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)

Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)

The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...

 on August 7 and on the Calendar of Saints

Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)

The Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by some Lutheran Churches in the United States. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod are from the...

 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

 on July 1.

External links

• Collection of hymns translated by Winkworth (The Cyber Hymnal)
• http://www.ccel.org/w/winkworthBiographies and published works (Christian Classics Ethereal Library
  Christian Classics Ethereal Library
  The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library that provides free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts....
  
  )]