Born: Sep­tem­ber 12, 1812, Hod­des­don, Eng­land.

Died: June 18, 1883, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Buried: Brompton, Middlesex, England.

Irons was the son of hymn­ist Jo­seph Ir­ons. Jo­si­ah grad­u­at­ed from Queens Coll­ege, Ox­ford (BA 1833, DD 1854), and took Ho­ly Or­ders in 1835. He served as Curate of St. Ma­ry, New­ing­ton (1835-7); In­cum­bent at St. Peters, Wal­worth (1837); Vi­car of Bark­way; In­cum­bent of Bromp­ton; Rec­tor of Wad­ing­ham; and Rec­tor of St. Ma­ry-Wool­noth and Pre­ben­da­ry of St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral (1872). He earned his Doc­tor of Di­vin­i­ty de­gree in 1854. Irons took part in the ec­cle­si­as­tic­al con­tro­ver­sies of his day, and pub­lished ex­tens­ive­ly there­on in the form of ser­mons, let­ters, pamph­lets, etc. His 1870 Bamp­ton Lec­tures were on Christ­i­an­i­ty as Taught by St. Paul.

Irons’ hymn writ­ing and trans­lat­ing be­gan dur­ing his cur­a­cy at St. Ma­ry, New­ing­ton, and con­tin­ued un­til his death. Ma­ny of his ef­forts were first print­ed as broad­sheets, and lat­er in­clud­ed in Hymns for the Christ­ian Sea­sons, by R. T. Lowe, Rec­tor of Lea, Lin­coln­shire (Gains­burgh: 1854), and in his own col­lect­ions. His works inc­lude:

• Metrical Psal­ter (Lon­don: 1855) (co-au­thored with Will­iam La­hee)
• Appendix to the Bromp­ton Me­tric­al Psal­ter, 1861
• Hymns for use in Church, 1866
• Psalms and Hymns for the Church (first edi­tion 1873, se­cond edi­tion 1875, third edi­tion 1883)

Sources

Hymns

1. Blest Voice of Love
2. Can Earthly Voices Fitly Sing
3. Children of Earth, for Heaven We Seek
4. Eternal Spirit, God of Grace
5. Faithful Creator, Lord Divine
6. Father of Love
7. Hail, Ho­ly Rest
8. Is Not This Our King and Prophet?
9. It Is Not Finished, Lord of Grace
10. Jesu, Who for Us Didst Hear
11. Joy of Joys, He Lives, He Lives
12. Lord, Hear My Pray­er, Bow Down Thine Ear
13. Lord, in Thy Wrath Thou Thinkest Yet
14. Lord, Thy Voice Hath Spoken
15. No Sorrow, and No Sighing
16. O God with us, the Savior
17. O How Long, How Long
18. O Savior, Now at God’s Right Hand
19. O Who Are They So Pure and Bright?
20. Sing with All the Saints in Glory
21. Thanks Be to God for Meet and Right
22. To Whom But Thee, O God of Grace
23. Triumphant Lord, Thy Work Is Done
24. We Praise Thee, O Our God
25. Who Is This from Bethlehem Coming?
26. Why Art Thou Weary, O My Soul?

Translations

1. Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning