Sep­tem­ber 12, 1812, Hod­des­don, Eng­land.

June 18, 1883, Lon­don, Eng­land.

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) (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)

• Julian, pp. 571-2, 1574

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, Sing We a Car­ol
20. O Who Are They So Pure and Bright?
21. Sing with All the Saints in Glo­ry
22. Thanks Be to God for Meet and Right
23. To Whom But Thee, O God of Grace
24. Triumphant Lord, Thy Work Is Done
25. We Praise Thee, O Our God
26. Who Is This from Beth­le­hem Com­ing?
27. Why Art Thou Wea­ry, O My Soul?

1. Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourn­ing