Hannah More, Writer and Philanthropist

Hannah More, writer and philanthropist, was born in Fishponds, Bristol on 2^nd February 1745.  Her father Joseph More was a schoolmaster and she had four sisters.   She was precocious and quick witted and her passion for learning was quickly recognised by her parents and older sisters, who all helped to educate her.  Joseph More ensured that all his daughters were educated, so that they would be able to earn a living for themselves by running a boarding school for girls.   He set up a school in Bristol for Hannah’s older sisters Mary and Elizabeth to run when Hannah was 12 years old and she attended the school.  By her late teens Hannah was teaching at the school.

Hannah started writing stories and poetry at an early age.  In 1762 her first significant work, a pastoral drama poem entitled The Search after Happiness, was published in Bristol.  In it she expressed her views on the education of women and their role in society.  It was republished in London in 1773 and had sold over 10,000 copies by the mid-1780s.

In 1767 William Turner of Belmont House at Wraxall proposed marriage to Hannah and she accepted.  However he was 20 years older than her and he postponed their wedding three times. In 1773 Hannah broke off their engagement and, after suffering a nervous breakdown as a result, resolved never to marry.  She turned down several subsequent marriage proposals. Feeling guilty William Turner persuaded her to accept an annuity of £200, which made her financially secure and independent.

In 1773 Hannah and her sisters Sarah and Martha visited London for the first time.  She was introduced to many notable people, including the artist Joshua Reynolds, the actor and playwright David Garrick and the writer Dr Samuel Johnson.  Her visits to London became annual events and on her second visit she was invited to join the Bluestocking circle, which was a group of intellectual women with literary interests. David Garrick put on Hannah’s first play The Inflexible Captive at the Theatre Royal in bath in April 1775.  Her second play Percy was performed in Covent Garden in London in 1777.  For various reasons Hannah became disillusioned with the literary world after 1779.

Hannah’s Christian faith became deeper in the 1780s and she became involved in the campaign to abolish slavery.  In 1784 she moved to a cottage at Cowslip Green near Wrington.  Hannah had many books and tracts published on a variety of moral issues.  She became friendly with anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce and he encouraged her and her sisters to set up schools to educate the children of poor people. 

Hannah and Martha’s first school was in Cheddar and it opened in 1789.  The children were taught to read and learned about the Bible and the Christian faith.  Hannah didn’t want them to be taught to write because she thought this would encourage them to be dissatisfied with their lowly situation.  The school was a success and so the sisters owned a second one in Shipham.  This was followed by another 10 in villages around the Mendips, including Blagdon, Yatton, Sandford, Congresbury, Banwell and Nailsea over the following decade. They also started evening classes for adults, weekday classes for girls to learn how to sew, knit, and spin, and a number of women's friendly societies, which emphasised the virtues of cleanliness, decency and Christian behaviour. 

In 1799 Hannah’s definitive two volume work on the subject of women’s education,         Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education was published. All five More sisters moved to a large house called Barley Wood on the north east edge of Wrington in 1801.

Hannah’s schools encountered opposition from local landowners and farmers who did not want their labourers to be educated.  She was also opposed by some local clergymen, who accused her of encouraging Methodism at Blagdon School in 1800.  Hannah defended herself well but closed Blagdon School in order to protect the reputation of her other schools.

Hannah suffered from ill health for the last 20 years of her life and one by one her beloved sisters died.  In 1828 her friends persuaded her to move to Clifton in Bristol, so they could look after her.  Hannah died on 7th September 1733 aged 88 in Clifton and was buried with her sisters in All Saints’ Churchyard in Wrington.

Bust of Hannah More in the porch of All Saints' Parish Church, Wrington 

Grave of Hannah More and her 4 sisters in the churchyard at Wrington

All Saints' Church, Wrington

Tithe Barn, Nailsea

This building housed Hannah More’s school for nearly 200 years from 1789

Hannah More’s name lives on today in three local street names – Hannah More Road in Nailsea and Hannah More Close in Wrington and in Cheddar.  There also still two schools named after her – Hannah More Primary School in St Philips, Bristol and Hannah More Infant School in Nailsea.

Hannah More Road, Nailsea