More, Hannah

1745 - Hannah More, born on the 2nd of February in Fishponds, near Bristol, she was the fourth of five daughters of Jacob More, who, though from a Presbyterian family in Norfolk, had become a member of the English Church, a strong Tory and a schoolmaster at Stapleton in Gloucestershire. She was an English religious writer and philanthropist.

1762 - Her first literary efforts were pastoral plays, suitable for young ladies to act, the first being written under the title of The Search after Happiness; by the mid-1780s over 10,000 copies had been sold.

1767 - She gave up her share in the school after becoming engaged to William Turner, of Wraxall, Somerset.

1781 - She made the acquaintance of Horace Walpole, and corresponded with him from that time.

1785 - At Bristol she discovered Ann Yearsley, a milkwoman and poet, and raised a considerable sum of money for her benefit. Lactilia, as Yearsley was called, published Poems, on Several Occasions.

1786 - The poems Bas-Bleu and Florio mark her gradual transition to more serious views of life.

1788 - She published a poem on Slavery, and was for many years a friend of Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London and a leading abolitionist.

1799 - 1819 - Wrote many ethical books and tracts: Strictures on Female Education, Hints towards forming the Character of a Young Princess, Coelebs in Search of a Wife (only nominally a story, Practical Piety, Christian Morals, Character of St Paul, Moral Sketches.

1833 - She spent the last five years of her life in Clifton, and died on the 7th of September. She is buried at All Saints' church, Wrington.

• "One kernel is felt in a hogshead; one drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. None are too small, too feeble, too poor to be of service. Think of this and act."