   hannah more (2 february 1745 â 7 september 1833) was an english religious writer and philanthropist. she can be said to have made three reputations in the course of her long life: as a poet and playwright in the circle of johnson, reynolds and garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical philanthropist. ==early life== born in 1745 at fishponds in the parish of stapleton, near bristol, hannah more was the fourth of five daughters of jacob more, a schoolmaster originally from harleston, norfolk. he was from a strong presbyterian family in norfolk, but had become a member of the church of england, and originally intended to pursue a career in the church, but after the disappointment of losing a lawsuit over an estate he had hoped to inherit, he moved to bristol, where he became an excise officer and was later appointed teacher at the fishponds free school. they were a close family and the sisters were first educated by their father, learning latin and mathematics: hannah was also taught by her elder sisters, through whom she learned french. she was keen to learn, and possessed a sharp intellect - she was assiduous in studying and, according to family tradition, began writing at an early age. in 1758 jacob established his own girls' boarding school at trinity street in bristol for the elder sisters, mary and elizabeth to run, while he and his wife moved to stony hill in the city to open a school for boys. hannah more became a pupil when she was twelve years old, and taught at the school in her early adulthood. ==playwright== hannah more's first literary efforts were pastoral plays, written while she was teaching at the school and suitable for young ladies to act, the first being written in 1762 under the title of the search after happiness; by the mid-1780s over 10,000 copies had been sold.s. j. skedd, "more, hannah (1745â1833)", oxford dictionary of national biography (oxford: oxford university press, 2004). metastasio was one of her
1745_births 1833_deaths 18th-century_British_children\'s_literature 18th-century_women_writers British_women_dramatists_and_playwrights Clapham_Sect English_Anglicans English_abolitionists English_children\'s_writers English_dramatists_and_playwrights English_philanthropists English_religious_writers English_women_writers Evangelical_Anglicans People_from_Bristol Women_essayists Women_religious_writers