Hearn, Mary Anne

(1834-1909)

   Known as "Polly," she was born at Farningham, Kent, the daughter of Joseph Hearn, village postmaster (her pen name, Marianne Farningham, is a combination Mary Anne with Farningham). Her strict Baptist parents would not allow her to attend a secular school. Added to this, her mother died when she was twelve, so she became the housekeeper. By studying early morning and late at night she educated herself and was a schoolteacher from 1852 to 1866. After that she became editor of the Sunday School Times and joined the outside staff of the newly founded Christian World, for which she wrote regularly till her death at Barmouth, Wales. She became well-known as a hymn writer, poet and author, and a lecturer beloved by English Baptists. Some of her publications: Lays and Lyrics of the Blessed Life, 1861. Poems, 1865. Morning and Evening Hymns for the Week, 1870. Songs of Sunshine, 1875. A Working Woman's Life, 1907 (autobiography). Some of her poems/hymns: "A Blind Man's Story," "A Goodbye at the Door," "God Cares," "Jairus," "Last Hymn," "Rebekah," "The Burden."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Biography of Marianne Faringham Hearn (http://website.lineone.net/Hearn, Mary Annegsward/pages/mfarningham.html). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Hazel Felleman, ed. Doubleday, 1936. The Best Loved Religious Poems. James Gilchrist Lawson, ed. Fleming H. Revell, 1933. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm).