ANNE

See also:

• STEELE
• ANNE STEELE (1717-1778)
• STEELE, SIR RICHARD (1672-1729)
• STEELE, THOMAS (1788-1848)
• STEELE, WILLIAM (d. 1680)

STEELE (1717-1778)  , English hymn writer, was born at Broughton, Hampshire, in 1717 . The drowning of her betrothed a few hours before the time fixed for her marriage deeply affected an otherwise quiet life, and her hymns rather emphasize the less optimistic phases of Christian experience . In 1760 she published Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional un/ler the name " Theodosia," and her complete works (144 hymns, 34 metrical psalms and 50 moral poems) appeared in one volume in London (1863) . She was a Baptist, and her hymns are much used by members of that communion, though some of them, e.g . " Father of mercies, in Thy word," have found their way into the collections of other Churches . She has been called the Frances Ridley Havergal of the 18th century .