Hannah More
It would be good for my soul and my mental health to read three biographies for every other book I read. Every Christian who loves the evangelical faith, every Anglican who loves our Reformation heritage, and everyone who cares for the least, the lost, and the lonely will know about Hannah More (1745-1833). More was the poet, playwright, and agitator who brought hope to England’s darkest places. She made a fortune from the cottage industry of producing moral tracts that sold in the millions. Adored by men, she flirted with some of the most distinguished of her time yet chose to remain single. When she was very young she was engaged for six years to a man who three times postponed the wedding and on the occasion of their breakup agreed to support her with a generous annual stipend (20 years later they met again and became friends, and upon his death he left More 1,000 £ in his will).
Hannah More is best known for her association with the group of influential and wealthy Christians that came to be called the Clapham Sect, and she maintained a very friendships with John Newton and William Wilberforce throughout their lives. She was a member of the women’s movement with the same agenda: Blue Stockings Society. She was influential in the movement to abolish the Transatlantic slave trade, and she championed literacy and opportunities for poor children in Bristol, starting many schools. Adored by men, she flirted with some of the most distinguished of her time but chose to remain single. One woman in London’s high society said of Hannah: “I do not like her at all, in fact I detest her. She does nothing but flatter and fawn, and then she thinks ill of nobody. . . ‘Don’t you,’ she asked Fanny Burney, ‘hate a person who thinks ill of nobody?’” More was bold and confident in her convictions, a rare trait for 19th century women, and a woman of obvious Christian grace.
She prayed:
“Give me, O God, a mild, a peaceable, a meek, and an humble spirit, that, remembering my own infirmities, I may bear with those of others: that I may think lowly of myself, and not be angry when others also think lowly of me; that I may be patient towards all men; gentle and easy to be entreated, that God, for Christ’s sake, may be so towards me. Amen”
In July of 1833 the bill to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire passed in the House of Commons, followed by the House of Lords on August 1. Hannah More died September 7, 1833 at the age of 88.
Hannah More: The Woman who Brought Hope to England’s Darkest Places, Jeremy & Margaret Collingwood
Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More, Karen Swallow Prior