Steele, Anne (1717–1778)
Steele, Anne (1717–1778)
English hymn writer. Name variations: Theodosia. Born at Broughton, Hampshire, England, in 1717; died in 1778.
Anne Steele was born in Broughton, Hampshire, England, in 1717. A few hours before her marriage, her fiancé drowned, deeply affecting her otherwise quiet life. Steele's hymns, noted one historian, "emphasize the less optimistic phases of Christian experience." In 1760, she published Poems on Subjects chiefly devotional under the name "Theodosia," and her complete works (144 hymns, 34 metrical psalms, and 50 moral poems) appeared in one volume in London in 1863, issued by Daniel Sedgwick. Steele was a Baptist, and her hymns were often used by members of that faith, though some of them, like "Father of mercies, in Thy word," found their way into the collections of other churches. Anne Steele has been called the Frances Ridley Havergal of the 18th century.