Arabella Katherine Hankey (12 January 1834 – 9 May 1911) was an English

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

who is best known for being the author of the poem ''The Old, Old Story'', from which the

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

s " Tell me the old, old story" and "

I Love to Tell the Story "I Love to Tell the Story" is a well-known hymn which was written as a poem by an English evangelist, Katherine Hankey. It was set to music by William G. Fischer. Hankey had a serious spell of sickness while on a mission in Africa. During her lo ...

" were derived.

Biography

Hankey was born in 1834, the daughter of a prosperous banker in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Her family were devout

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

s and members of the

Clapham Sect The Clapham Sect, or Clapham Saints, were a group of social reformers associated with Clapham in the period from the 1780s to the 1840s. Despite the label "sect", most members remained in the established (and dominant) Church of England, which ...

. She was inspired by the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

revival of

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

and organised and taught in

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

s in London. She then did

work as a

in South Africa, assisting her brother. In 1866, she had a serious illness and was bedridden for a long convalescence. During this time, Hankey wrote her long poem, titled ''Tell me the Old, Old Story of unseen things above'', with 50 verses in two parts: ''The Story Wanted'' and ''The Story Told''. Hankey's masterpiece was put to music by the American composer

William Howard Doane William Howard Doane (February 3, 1832 – December 24, 1915) was a manufacturer, inventor, hymn writer, choral director, church leader and philanthropist. He composed over 2,000 church hymns. More than seventy patents are credited to him for ...

. She recovered from the illness and lived to the age of 77, dying in 1911.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hankey, Katherine 1834 births 1911 deaths English Anglican missionaries Evangelical Anglicans Church of England hymnwriters Christianity in London English women poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English musicians Anglican missionaries in South Africa Anglican poets British women hymnwriters 19th-century British women musicians British expatriates in South Africa

Biography

See also

References

External links