Edwin Hatch was born on September 4, 1835, in Derby, England.

He was an English theologian. He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford (B.A., 1857). In 1859, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and travelled to Toronto, Canada, where he was a professor of classics at Trinity College until 1862. He served as rector of the High School of Quebec and professor of Classics at Morrin College, both in Quebec City. In 1867, he returned to England and became Vice-Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and Rector of Purleigh (1883-1885). In 1873, Hatch edited “The Student's Handbook to the University and Colleges of Oxford”. He was also a Bampton lecturer (1880) and a Grinfield lecturer in ecclesiastical history (1880-1884). He is remembered as the composer of the hymn "Breathe on Me, Breath of God" (1878). Hatch's hymns were published in his posthumous book “Towards Fields of Light” (1890).

In 1863, he married Bessie Thomas (1840–1891). He died on November 10, 1889, in Headington, Oxfordshire, England.