Hannah More: my hero

Hannah More as painted by H.W. Pickersgill

In her day she sold more books than her contemporary Jane Austen; she was described by the great Samuel Johnson as the most skilled female writer of her generation; she produced plays, wrote poetry and interacted with the society-influencers of her day all the while courageously challenging the ideas of those she met; she played a key role in the abolition of the slave trade, donated large sums of money to worthy causes and gave her life to reforming moral values in this nation.

Her name is Hannah More, and she’s one of my heroes. What William Wilberforce was among men, More was among women.

At just 29 years old she arrived in a London that had given itself over to decadence and indulgence. Annual gin consumption had risen as high as three gallons per person; addictive gambling was commonplace, sexual promiscuity the norm, and church attendance dwindling. She believed the numbing of moral values was a natural consequence of the visible decline of religion, and so she gave her life to bringing about a moral revolution. And she succeeded.

Those ‘stiff upper lip’ values of character, integrity and morality that are often characterised in re-enactments of Austen’s famous novels today are owed in part to Hannah More and her passion for transforming society. She won the fight for the minds and opinions of her generation, she made ‘goodness’ fashionable and Britain was forever different for the part she played in it.

Over the next 100 years, there will be a clean sweep of humanity, and none of us will be here to see what our nation looks like then. Given that we’ll spend the best part of 70,000 hours in our places of work over our life-times, if we’re at all motivated by More’s example, that’s the place we’ll most likely bring about change and leave our worlds better off for our involvement within it.

There’s bad news though. This isn’t exactly an easy task. There’s no silver bullet nor quick-fix solution. And our battles will look very different. The fight for justice in politics is different from the battle for cleaner streets in your community, and the challenge of changing the media’s obsession with sex will look very different from bringing about strong family values in education.

Nonetheless, this seminar aims to provide opportunities for networking with like-minded people, offer practical help on taking steps forward in the workplace, and bring broad brush-strokes that help paint the picture of what could be accomplished over a life-time.

“If there ever was a period in which the demand for elevating the tone of Christianity, principles and conduct was more imperative than another, that period is the present.”
Hannah More, ‘Thought on the Importance of Manners of the Great to General Society’ (T Cadell, 1799)

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