Sarah Fuller Adams | |
|---|---|
 Sketch of Sarah, a copy of a now lost 1834 sketch byMargaret Gillies | |
| Born | Sarah Fuller Flower (1805-02-22)22 February 1805 Old Harlow,Essex, England |
| Died | 14 August 1848(1848-08-14) (aged 43) London, England |
| Resting place | Foster Street, Essex, England |
| Pen name | S.Y.[1] |
| Occupation | Poet, hymnwriter |
| Notable works | "Nearer, My God, to Thee" |
| Spouse | |
| Parents | Benjamin Flower (father) |
| Relatives | William Fuller,Richard Fuller,Eliza Flower,Richard Flower,John Clayton |
| Signature | |
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Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (orSally Adams)[1] (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848) was an English poet andhymnwriter.[2] A selection of hymns she wrote, published byWilliam Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", reportedly played by the band as theRMSTitanic sank in 1912.
Sarah Fuller Flower was born 22 February 1805, atOld Harlow,Essex,[3] and baptised in September 1806 at the Water Lane Independent Chapel inBishops Stortford.[4] She was the younger daughter of the radical editorBenjamin Flower,[5] and his wife Eliza Gould.[2]
Her father's mother Martha, sister of the wealthy bankersWilliam Fuller andRichard Fuller, had died the month before Adams' birth. Her elder sister was the composerEliza Flower.[2][6] Her uncles includedRichard Flower, who emigrated to the United States in 1822 and was a founder of the town ofAlbion, Illinois;[7] and the nonconformist ministerJohn Clayton.
Her mother died when she was only five years old and initially her father, a liberal in politics and religion,[8] brought the daughters up, taking a hand in their education. The family moved toDalston inMiddlesex, where they met the writerHarriet Martineau, who was struck by the two sisters and used them for her novel "Deerbrook". In 1823, on a holiday inScotland with friends of the radical preacher William Johnson Fox, the minister of South Place Unitarian Chapel, London, who was a frequent visitor to their home, Adams broke the female record for climbing upBen Lomond. Back home, the girls became friends with the young poetRobert Browning, who discussed his religious doubts with Adams.[2]
After the father's death, about 1825, the sisters became members of the Fox household.[9] Both sisters began literary pursuits, and Adams first fell ill with what becametuberculosis. Soon afterwards, the sisters moved toUpper Clapton, a suburb ofLondon. They attached themselves to thereligious society worshipping in South Place,Finsbury, under the pastoral care of Fox. He encouraged and sympathized with the sisters, and they in turn helped him in his work. Eliza, the elder, devoted herself to enriching the musical part of the Chapel service, while Adams contributed hymns.[9] Fox was one of the founders of theWestminster Review.[8] and hisUnitarian magazine, theMonthly Repository, printed essays, poems and stories byWilliam Bridges Adams, polemicist and railway engineer, whom Adams met at the house of her friend, the feminist philosopherHarriet Taylor Mill. The two married in 1834,[2] setting up house atLoughton in Essex. In 1837, he distinguished himself as the author of an elaborate volume onEnglish Pleasure Carriages, and another onThe Construction of Common Roads and Railroads. He was also a contributor to some of the principal reviews and newspapers.[8]
Encouraged by her husband, Adams turned to acting and in the 1837 season atRichmond playedLady Macbeth, followed byPortia andLady Teazle, all successes. Though offered a role atBath, then a springboard for theWest End, her health broke down and she returned to literature.[2]
In 1841, she published her longest work,Vivia Perpetua, A Dramatic Poem. In it, a young wife who refuses to submit to male control and renounce herChristian beliefs is put to death. She contributed to theWestminster Review, including a critique ofElizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry, and wrote political verses, some for theAnti-Corn Law League. Her work often advocated equal treatment for women and for the working class.[citation needed] At the solicitation of her pastor, she also contributed 13 hymns to the compilation prepared by him for the use of his chapel, published 1840–41, in two parts, six in the first and seven in the second part. Of these, the two best known —" Nearer, my God! to Thee" and "He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower"— are in the second part. For this work, her sister, Eliza, wrote 62 tunes. Her only other publication, a catechism for children, entitledThe Flock at the Fountain, appeared in 1845.[10] Her hymn "Nearer, my God! to Thee" was introduced to American Christians in theService Book, published (1844) by Rev.James Freeman Clarke, D.D., ofBoston,Massachusetts, from where it was soon transferred to other collections.[7] A selection of hymns she wrote, published by Fox, included her best-known piece, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", reportedly played by the band as the RMSTitanic sank in 1912.[2][11]
A Unitarian in belief, she was hampered in her career by deafness that she had inherited from her father and, inheriting their mother's feebleness, both sisters yielded to disease in middle age. Eliza, after a lingering illness, died in December 1846 and, worn down by caring for her invalid sister, Adams' health gradually declined. She died on 14 August 1848 at the age of 43 and was buried beside her sister and parents in the Foster Street cemetery near Harlow.[10][7][2][5] At her grave was sung the only other hymn of hers that was widely known, "He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower".[9]
Ablue plaque honouring the husband and wife was placed at their Loughton home: they had no children.Richard Garnett wrote of her: "All who knew Mrs. Adams personally speak of her with enthusiasm; she is described as a woman of singular beauty and attractiveness, delicate and truly feminine, high-minded, and in her days of health playful and high-spirited."[12]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:American Unitarian Association (1922).Christian Register (Public domain ed.). American Unitarian Association. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Hatfield, Edwin Francis (1884).The Poets of the Church: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Hymn-writers with Notes on Their Hymns (Public domain ed.). A. D. F. Randolph. p. 1. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Julian, John (1892).A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting Forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations (Public domain ed.). C. Scribner's Sons. p. 16.
