Hannah More facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hannah More
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More in 1821
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| Born | 2 February 1745 Fishponds, Bristol, England
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| Died | 7 September 1833 (aged 88) Clifton, Bristol, England
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| Resting place | Wrington, Somerset, England |
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Hannah More (born February 2, 1745 – died September 7, 1833) was an English writer, helper of others, poet, and playwright. She was known for writing about good behavior and religious topics. Hannah was part of a famous group of thinkers and artists in London, including Samuel Johnson and David Garrick.
Born in Bristol, England, she first taught at a school her father started. She then began writing plays. Later, she became a key member of the "Bluestockings," a group of educated women who met to discuss ideas. Her plays and poems later focused more on religious teachings. She also joined a group that worked to end the slave trade. In the 1790s, she wrote simple stories called Cheap Repository Tracts. These stories shared moral, religious, and political ideas with people who could read, especially those who were poor. She also helped set up schools in the countryside of Somerset with her sister Martha. Hannah More was known for her traditional political views.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Hannah More was born in 1745 in Fishponds, near Bristol. She was the fourth of five daughters. Her father, Jacob More, was a schoolmaster. He had a strong religious background and later joined the Church of England. He wanted to become a church leader. However, after losing a legal case, he moved to Bristol. There, he became a tax officer and later taught at a free school.
Hannah and her sisters were first taught by their father. They learned Latin and mathematics. Hannah also learned French from her older sisters. She practiced her French by talking with French prisoners of war during the Seven Years' War. She was a very dedicated and smart student. It is said that she started writing at a young age.
In 1758, Hannah's father opened a girls' boarding school in Bristol. Her older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, ran this school. Hannah became a student there when she was twelve. Later, she taught at the same school as a young adult.
In 1767, Hannah More became engaged to William Turner. He was from the Belmont Estate in Wraxall, Somerset. She gave up her share in the school because of this engagement. However, after six years, the wedding still had not happened. Turner seemed unwilling to set a date. In 1773, they broke off the engagement. This event made Hannah very upset. She recovered in Uphill, near Weston-super-Mare. She agreed to accept £200 a year from Turner as payment. This money allowed her to focus on her writing.
In the winter of 1773–1774, she traveled to London with her sisters, Sarah and Martha. This was the first of many such trips. She met David Garrick, a famous actor, because of some poems she wrote about his play King Lear.
Becoming a Playwright
Hannah More's first writings were plays for young ladies to perform. She wrote these while she was still teaching. Her first play was The Search after Happiness, written in 1762. By the mid-1780s, more than 10,000 copies of this play had been sold.
In London, Hannah More wanted to meet famous writers and thinkers. These included Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, and Edmund Burke. She became well-known in the Bluestocking group. This was a group of women who enjoyed polite conversations and intellectual activities. She attended gatherings hosted by Elizabeth Montagu. There, she met other important women who became her lifelong friends. In 1782, she wrote a clever poem about her friends and their group. It was called The Bas Bleu, or, Conversation and was published in 1784.
David Garrick wrote the introduction and ending for Hannah More's play Percy. This play was very successful at Covent Garden in December 1777. It was performed again in 1785 with the famous actress Sarah Siddons. A copy of Percy was even found among Mozart's belongings after he died. Another play, The Fatal Falsehood, was produced in 1779. It was not as successful, and she stopped writing for the stage after that. However, she did publish another play called The Inflexible Captive in 1818.
Religious Writer and Reformer
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In the 1780s, Hannah More became friends with James Oglethorpe. He was concerned about slavery and worked to end it. More published Sacred Dramas in 1782. This book quickly sold many copies. These works, along with her poems, showed her growing interest in more serious, religious topics. Her book Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society (1788) expressed these views.
By this time, she was close friends with William Wilberforce. He was a key leader in the movement to end slavery. Her poem Slavery was published in 1788. For many years, she was also friends with Bishop Beilby Porteus. He was a bishop in London and a leading abolitionist. He brought her into a group of people working against the slave trade. This group included Wilberforce and others.
In 1785, More bought a house at Cowslip Green in Somerset. She lived there with her sister Martha. She wrote several books and pamphlets about ethics and morals. These included Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799). She also wrote Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1809), which was a story with a moral message. She wrote very quickly. Her work was lively and covered important topics. This helped explain her popularity.
The start of the French Revolution in 1789 did not worry More at first. But by 1790, she wrote that she disliked the idea of "liberty" as it was understood in France. She thought the French people were cruel. She praised Edmund Burke's book Reflections on the Revolution in France. This book criticized the French Revolution.
Thomas Paine wrote Rights of Man in 1792 as a response to Burke. The government was worried about Paine's ideas, which called for change and were popular with the poor. Bishop Porteus asked More to write something to counter Paine's ideas for ordinary people. This led to her pamphlet, Village Politics (1792).
This pamphlet was published anonymously by "Will Chip." It was a simple conversation between a blacksmith, Jack Anvil, and a mason, Tom Hood. Tom Hood admired the French Revolution and wanted a new government based on "rights of man." Jack Anvil argued that Britain already had the best laws. He said French liberty led to violence and French equality meant pulling everyone down. Tom Hood eventually agreed that "old England is safe."
More's next pamphlet, Remarks on the Speech of M. Dupont, criticized the lack of religion in France. The money earned from this pamphlet went to French Catholic priests who were living in England.
Cheap Repository Tracts
In 1794, Thomas Paine published The Age of Reason. This book questioned Christianity. Bishop Porteus again asked Hannah More for help. She was busy with her charity schools, but by the end of the year, she agreed. She started a series called Cheap Repository Tracts. Three new stories came out every month from 1795 to 1798.
Her plan was to write in a "readable and entertaining" way. These stories sold 300,000 copies in just two months in 1795. By March 1796, over two million copies had been sold. The stories encouraged poor people to be content, sober, humble, hardworking, and loyal to the British government. They also taught trust in God and the kindness of wealthy people. One of the most famous stories was The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain. It described a very thrifty and happy family. This story was translated into many languages.
More was surprised by how much female education was advancing in France. She wrote that French women were studying philosophy and anatomy, and neglecting their families.
Ideas on Schooling
In 1802, Hannah More moved to Wrington in rural Somerset. She wanted to slowly withdraw from public life. However, she remained active with several schools she and her sister Martha had started for poor children. These schools began in the 1780s with encouragement from William Wilberforce.
The schools taught the Bible and religious lessons on Sundays. During the week, they taught "coarse works" to prepare children for jobs as servants. More stated that she did not allow writing for the poor. She believed they should not be "made scholars and philosophers." Some local people opposed her schools. Church leaders suspected her of promoting Methodism. Landowners worried that even basic reading skills would make children want to rise above their social class.
More believed that while many women might like to be in charge, they were not "fit for it." She thought women were too easily swayed and changeable. She refused to read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). This book argued for women's rights. More also turned down an honorary membership to the Royal Society of Literature. She felt her "sex alone" made her unqualified.
In 1820, More gave money to Philander Chase. He was the first Episcopal Bishop of Ohio. The money helped start Kenyon College in Ohio. A painting of Hannah More hangs in Peirce Hall at the college.
Later Years and Legacy
In her final years, many people who helped others visited Hannah More. She lived in Wrington and later in Clifton. She passed away on September 7, 1833. Hannah More left about £30,000. Most of this money went to charities and religious groups. The rest was left for a new church in Bristol. She was buried next to her sisters at the Church of All Saints, Wrington. There is a statue of her in the church porch.
Several local schools are named after Hannah More. Hannah More Primary School was built in Bristol in the 1840s. In 2012, her image appeared on the Bristol Pound, a local currency. The street in Wrington where she was buried is now called Hannah More Close.
In 2022, Hannah More was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar. Her feast day is celebrated on September 6.
Images for kids
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Hannah More's signature.
See also
In Spanish: Hannah More para niños
