She encouraged the sale of the halfpenny tract, writing the stories herself on many occasions, for she said it was no good to teach the poor to read and not supply that need with stories of high moral tone, or some unscrupulous vendor would fill the gap! She wrote The Riot, said to have helped to stop the Bristol riots - very questionable one would think today.

Against drink, The Gin Shop, The Lady and the Pie, Dan and Jane and many others. All in all, one million tracts were sold, some finding their way to the U.S.A. where they sold so well that the profits from these were used to found a girls' school in Ceylon named Barley Wood.

She was so well thought of that a girls' school in Jeffery Centre, Newhampshire, was named after her and, only very recently, was amalgamated with another school whose headmaster visited Bristol last year on a Hannah More Pilgrimage.

This, then, was the origin of tracts, those little papers which enlightened our forefathers when they started to read. Many could not afford books but were hungry for reading matter.

Her poems and ballads were comments on the society of her day. Her larger works such as Coelebs in Search of a Wife (a long discourse on Christian morality, with the story line of Coelebs' travels to find his bride Lucilla) brought much approval and criticism.

She expressed her disapproval of the emphasis on fashion and fripperies, and thought young ladies should put their minds to more serious subjects. A very long volume was Hints for Forming the Character of a Princess. One of the clergy had suggested she should do this, as it was thought the Prince of Wales, who was to become George IV, was not a good influence for a future Queen. The Princess was, of course, Charlotte, sho sadly died in childbirth.

Hannah had been presented to the Royal Family. She tells of her visit to King George III and his Queen and how the little Princess was asked to dance for her.

Thoughts on the Manners of the Great was a criticism of the life of the rich and idle and famous people of her day. She told Burke, the MP: "The public and private man are one and the same, for the one reflects the other; you cannot say one thing in public and do the opposite in private life. What are your servants to think if they see you publicly condemn one thing and do the same privately?"

For her epitaphs, odes and amusing poems, she was acknowledged as a great wit in her younger days. She had such a lively mind, one wonders when she found time to sleep, or entertain her friends but she did and still went to London on occasions.

After the move to Barley Wood, where the four sisters joined her and where she says she never found the retirement she sought, how the village of Wrington must have talked of all those famous visitors at the big house.

She says she entertained more friends and strangers than even in her gayest days. They included the Duke of Gloucester, the Wilberforce family, the Thorntons, Mrs.Siddons and, we learn, Mr.Gladstone, as reported on Page 8 of Mendip Schools.

Many clergy also visited including her close friends the Bishop of London and his wife Belby Porteous. When he died she put an urn in the garden of Barley Wood to his memory.

There was a very large party in 1819 when, she says, she "entertained 120 ladies and gentlemen, the superior part of the company, to a dinner of cold collation served on flower-decked table in the garden. White-robed nymphs made it the prettiest show imaginable."

By the time this took place, Hannah and Patty were alone. Mary had died in 1813, Elizabeth in 1816, Sarah in 1817. This sadness inspired Hannah to get her tracts published. All her life, Hannah had suffered much ill health, and she became more and more housebound.

In 1819 Patty died and Hannah was alone. A Miss Frowd became her companion. She stayed more and more in her first floor room. Still her pen found things to say but friends were becoming very concerned for the little lady at Barley Wood. One could go on and on and still not exhaust the stories of the life and work of Hannah More..

moral tracts






schools inspired by her














disapproval of fashionable frivolity



royal family connection



























continuing entertaining of visitors





Bishop of London








death of her sisters



her own decline 

I have told nothing of the milkmaid poet Ann Yeardsley whom Hannah More befriended and had some of her poems published, setting her upon the road to success. The relationship became strained through lack of understanding on both sides.

There was the "mad maid of the haystack" found living in a haystack at Wraxall. She was very refined and beautiful and named Louisa. She used to decorate the bushes around the haystack with her trinkets. She was obviously foreign, thought to be a refugee of the French nobility but she resisted all attempts to help her. Then Hannah managed to gain her confidence and when she was taken to be cared for, Hannah paid for her keep. This, to Hannah, was Christianity in action.

After Patty's death in 1819, Hannah was more and more confined to her room. She had many serious illnesses and it was thought she would not survive. Since her sisters' deaths, the housekeeping was in the hands of what she thought were trusted servants. Some had been with her upwards of 25 years but they started taking advantage of their elderly mistress who was not good at household accounts.

The servants were said to have held many parties in the servants' hall with orgies of food and drink. Other dishonesties crept in, until Hannah's friends intervened. At first she would not believe this of her servants but a careful study of household expenses revealed it was so.

To save her more trouble and suffering, Hannah's friends arranged the sale of Barley Wood and purchased a house in Windsor Terrace, Clifton, Bristol. Her servants were not told as it was feared they would attack her and Mr.Harford, who bought Barley Wood, sent his carriage to fetch her. She said she was like Eve being driven from her Garden of Eden - but not by angels. Her servants were given three months wages in lieu of notice.

Hannah lived at Windsor Terrace until 1833 in the serenity of her little boudoir, overlooking the beautiful Avon Gorge. Her many friends both young and old visited her and found this bright-eyed old lady always full of interesting conversation. She lived with her memories: the adoration of the crowd, the respect of the intellectual and a love of the poor and underprivileged.

On September 7th 1833, Hannah More died, full of years, in great trust of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and conscious of her own unworthiness. She was buried beside her four sisters in a corner of Wrington churchyard on 13th September,1833.

The bells tolled in Bristol and Wrington as the long line of black-draped carriages wound their way from Clifton Down, past her beloved Barley Wood. Villagers lined the route for miles and the school-children lined the streets of Wrington right to the church door.

The cortege was headed by a large number of robed clergy. All shops were closed; the church was full to overflowing. The Rev.Thomas Tregenna Biddulph took the service. He was the rector of St. James's Church, Bristol, the family church of the Mores. So was laid to rest the little lady whom some called "the Bishop in petticoats."

Hannah More left about £30,000 and many charities benefitted, including The Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bible societies, missionary societies, village friendly societies and pensioners of Wrington. The residue went to the new church of St.Philip's, Bristol.

She rests after her labours, whose work has been to expand and enlarge education so that today all children receive a fuller vision of life.

Ann Yeardsley



'maid in the haystack'






illness






thieving servants



removal to Bristol






continued visitors




death




funeral










bequests