More, Hannah

(1745–1833)

   Philanthropist and Devotional Writer.

   More was born in Stapleton, near Bristol, England. Financially independent, she became part of the London literary world and was a personal friend of Samuel johnson, the artist Joshua Reynolds and the actor/manager David Garrick. During this period she wrote a series of Sacred Plays which Garrick helped to produce. Later she became involved in the activities of the Clapham Sect and she was much influenced by William wilberforce and John newton. She organised a Sunday School in Cheddar in the Mendip Hills which was attached to a school of industry. This extended into a series of schools and adult educational institutes throughout the area. In addition, she wrote a series of religious tracts (known as the Cheap Repository Tracts), many of which urged the poor to be content with their lot and rejoice in the thought of their reward in Heaven.

   Her most popular work was Coelebs in Search of a Wife. She faced considerable mockery and criticism – for example, she was described by the Radical, William Cobbett, as ‘an old Bishop in petticoats’, but within her limitations, her educational work was both progressive and effective.

   M.G. Jones, Hannah More (1952);

   C.M. Yonge, Mrs Hannah More (1888).