Henry Christmas (1811 – 10 March 1868),[1] at the end of his life going by the surname Noel-Fearn, was an English clergyman, a man of letters and editor of periodicals, known also as a numismatist.
Born in London in 1811, he was the only son of Robert Noble Christmas of Taunton, by Jane, daughter of Samuel Fearn. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1837, M.A. 1840. He was ordained in 1837, and after serving several curacies was in 1841 appointed librarian and secretary of Sion College, holding the office till 1848.
From 1840 to 1843 and from 1854 to 1858 Christmas edited the Church of England Quarterly Review. He also edited The Churchman (1840–3), the British Churchman (1845–8), and the Literary Gazette (1859–60). He was for some years lecturer at St Peter's Church, Cornhill, and later filled the curacy of Garlickhithe. He was also for some time Sunday evening preacher at St. Mildred's in the Poultry.
Christmas was a versatile scholar: he was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and (in 1854–9) professor of English history and archæology in the Royal Society of Literature (England). He died in London suddenly, from apoplexy, on 11 March 1868, aged 57, and was buried in Norwood cemetery. Shortly before his death he had assumed the name of Noel-Fearn. He married, in 1838, Eliza Fox, by whom he had one son and three daughters.
Christmas's works included:
Christmas translated Augustin Calmet's Phantom World (1850), Christoph Martin Wieland's Republic of Fools (1861), and other writings. He edited works including Samuel Pegge's Anecdotes of the English Language (1844), the Works of Bishop Ridley (1841), and the Select Works of Bishop Bale (1849), the last two for the Parker Society.
Christmas collected British, Saxon, and English silver and copper coins, and also specimens of the Scotch, Irish, and Anglo-Gallic series. From June 1844 till 1847 he acted as joint honorary secretary of the Numismatic Society of London, and madecontributions to the Numismatic Chronicle (Old Series). He also compiled part of a work on British copper currencies: a few copies were printed in 1864, but were never published. Portions of the text and the wood-blocks of coins prepared for Christmas's work were by H. Montagu in Copper, Tin, and Bronze Coinage of England (1885). His collection was sold by auction at Sotheby's from 1 February 1864.