Steele, Anne

English, 1716–1778. Born in Hampshire, she was the daughter of a lay Baptist minister. She suffered a hip injury as a child and never fully recovered from this accident. A second tragedy was the drowning of her fiancé only a few hours before the wedding ceremony was to have taken place; she remained unmarried for the rest of her life. She wrote 144 hymns and is considered the first woman to hold a significant place in the history of English hymn-text writing.

Great God, to Thee My Evening Song, 164 (Text)