Hannah More Author Page

HANNAH MORE (1745-1833) was born in Stapleton, Bristol, England. Her father was a school headmaster and she had four outgoing sisters. She had three failed engagements to the same man Edward Turner, who settled with an annuity for her trouble, and she remained unmarried. Early in her life she was interested in the theater and wrote plays. Dr. James Stonhouse (also the vicar in Shepherd of Salisbury Plain) introduced her to David Garrick, a theater owner, who produced her work in the theater.
For six years her fashionable social life grew to include many important people, but when it lost its appeal she turned to religion. Dr. James Stonhouse is credited with Hannah More’s spiritual awakening, but it was John Newton’s influence that gave energy and devotion to her spiritual walk, and she became a strong Evangelical Christian. Education was a strong theme in her life and William Wilberforce encouraged her to start schools for the education and moral advancement of poor village children.
To counteract immoral forces in society, Hannah More, her sister Sarah, and others wrote a series of successful chapbooks called the “Cheap Repository Tracts.” These included the “Shepherd of Salisbury Plain” and many other colorful tales.
She was also active with a group called the “Clapham Sect” that met at Henry Thornton’s huge house in Clapham. They included William Wilberforce, Henry Venn, James Stephen, Zachary McCauley, Thomas Gisborne, and Charles Grant. They met to affect the reformation of society. The last part of her life was at Barley Wood, where she continued her goals of education and moral improvement. She had a vast social circle and wrote a multitude of letters. Her talent for writing also produced many books of drama, poetry, hymns, fiction and religious instruction.

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Other books, repository tales, stories, plays and poems she wrote:
Ballads
Bas Bleu (The)
Belshazzar
Bible Rhymes
Black Slave
Bleeding Rock (The)
Bonner’s Ghost
Christian Morals
Coelebs in Search of a Wife
Daniel
David and Goliath
Epitaphs
Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of St. Paul
Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World
Fatal Falsehood (The)
Florio
Grand Assizes (The); or, General Jail Delivery.
Heroic Epistle to Sally Horne
Hints Toward Forming the Character of a Princess
History of a School Girl (The)
Hymns
Inflexible Captive (The), A Tragedy
Miscellaneous Poems
Modern Sketches
Moral Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic
Moses in the Bulrushes
Ode to Garrick’s House Dog
On Female Education
Patient Joe, or, the Newcastle Collier.
Percy
Pleasing Recollections
Practical Piety
Reflections of King Hezekiah
Reflections on Prayer
Remarks on Mr. Dupont’s Speech
Sacred Dramas
Search After Happiness (The), a Pastoral Drama
Sensibility
Servant Man Turned Soldier (The); or, the Fair Weather Christian, etc.
Sir Eldred of the Bower
Spirit of Prayer (The)
Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education
Tales in Verse
Thoughts on the Manners of the Great
Tragedies
Two Wealthy Farmers (The), or, the History of Mr. Bragwell. (7 Parts)
Village Politics.
White Slave Trade