Anne Steele
1717–1778 · England · Baroque
English Baptist hymn writer who published under the name 'Theodosia'; for a century after her death the most widely sung woman hymn writer in Britain and America.
Life
Anne Steele was born in 1717 at Broughton, Hampshire, where her father was a timber merchant and lay pastor of the Baptist church. She lived her whole life in Broughton, devoted to reading and writing; she suffered from poor health and, according to tradition, the loss of a fiancé shortly before their wedding. She published her work under the pseudonym 'Theodosia': Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional appeared in two volumes in 1760, and a third, with a preface by Caleb Evans of Bristol, followed after her death in 1778.
As a Hymn Writer
Steele's three volumes contain 144 hymns, 34 metrical psalms and about 30 short poems; 62 of her hymns entered the Baptist collection of Ash and Evans (1769) and from there spread widely. Her hymns are quiet, meditative and Scriptural, often written out of suffering: trust in God's providence, the comfort of the Bible ('Father of Mercies, in Thy Word'), and resignation to God's will.
In The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Service Book (5)
- Enslaved by Sin and Bound in Chains
- The Savior Calls; Let Every Ear
- Father of Mercies, in Thy Word
- To Our Redeemer's Glorious Name
- Almighty Lord, before Thy Throne
Sources: Wikipedia, 'Anne Steele'.