The following is a list of women hymnwriters, in order of their year of birth.
Pre-1000
*
Kassia the Nun
Kassia, Cassia or Kassiani ( gr, Κασσιανή, Kassianí, ; – before 865) was a Byzantine-Greek composer, hymnographer and poet. She holds a unique place in Byzantine music as the only known woman whose music appears in the Byzantine litu ...
Bermersheim vor der Höhe
Bermersheim vor der Höhe is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
As a winegrowing ...
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Mechthild (or Mechtild, Matilda, Matelda) of Magdeburg (c. 1207 – c. 1282/1294), a Beguine, was a Christian medieval mystic, whose book ''Das fließende Licht der Gottheit'' (''The Flowing Light of Divinity'') is a compendium of visions, ...
(ca. 1207 - ca. 1282)
1300-1400
*
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English mystic and anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earlies ...
(1342 - ca. 1416)
1500-1600
* Teresa of Avila (b. Gotarrendura, Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515; d. Alba de Tormes, 4 October 1582)
* Christine of Hesse (b. Kassel, 29 June 1543 – d. Kiel, 13 May 1604)
*Anna (Schindler) Dober (b. Kunewald, near Fulneck, Moravia, 9 April 1713; d. Marienborn, near Büdingen, Hesse, 12 December 1739)
* Anna Nitschmann (b. 24 November 1715; d. 21 May 1760)
* Anne Steele (1717 – 1778)
*Henriette Luise von Hayn (b. 22 May 1724; d. 27 August 1782)
*Birgitte Katerine Boye (b. Gentofte, Denmark, 7 March 1742; d. 17 October 1824)
* Anna Letitita Barbauld (b. Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, 20 June 1743; d. Stoke Newington, London, 9 March 1825)
1750-1800
* Joanna Southcott (b. Taleford, near Ottery St Mary, Devon, 25 April 1750; d. London, 27 December 1814)
*Judith Sargent Murray (b. Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1 May 1751; d. Natchez, Mississippi, 9 June 1820)
* Susanna Harrison (b. 1752; d. Ipswich, 3 August 1784)
* Helen Maria Williams (b. London, 17 June 1759; d. Paris, 15 December 1827)
* Harriet Auber (b. Spitalfields, London, 4 August 1773; d. Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, 20 Jan 1862)
* Ann Griffiths (b. Llanfihangel, Montgomeryshire, April 1776; d. Llanfihangel, August 1805)
*Ann Taylor Gilbert (b. Islington, London, 30 January 1782, d. Nottingham, 20 December 1866)
*
Phoebe Hinsdale Brown
Phoebe Hinsdale Brown (, Hinsdale; pen name, B.; May 1, 1783 – October 10, 1861) was the first notable American woman hymnwriter, and the first American woman to write a hymn of wide popularity, " I love to steal awhile away".
Early years and ...
(b. Canaan, New York State, 1 May 1783; d. Henry, Marshall County, Illinois, 10 October 1861)
*Jane Taylor (b. Islington, 23 September 1783, d. Ongar, Essex, 13 April 1824)
* Charlotte Elliott (1789 – 1871)
*Mary (MacDougall) Macdonald (b. Ardtun, Isle of Mull, 1789; d. Ardtun, 21 May 1872)
* Penina Moise (b. Charleston, South Carolina, 23 April 1797; d. Charleston, SC, 13 September 1880)
*Abigail Bradley Hyde (1799-1872)
*Henrietta Joan Fry (b. Bristol, 6 December 1799; d. Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, 1860)
1800-1850
*
Sarah Flower Adams
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams) (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter. A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", report ...
(b. Great Harlow, Essex, 22 February 1805; d. London, 14 August 1848)
*Harriet Burn McKeever (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 August 1807; d. Chester, Pennsylvania, 7 February 1886 or 1887)
*Margaret Cockburn-Campbell (b. 1808; d. Alphington, near Exeter, Devonshire, 6 February 1841)
*Eliza Westbury (b. Hackleton, Northamptonshire, 1808 (Baptized 22 May); d. 11 April 1828)
*Anne Houlditch Shepherd (b. Cowes, Isle of Wight, 11 September 1809; d. Blackheath, Kent, 7 January 1857)
*
Jane Crewdson
Jane Crewdson (1808-1863) was a British poet, best known for her collections of poems. Born in Cornwall, part of the Fox family of Falmouth, Crewdson married a Manchester cotton manufacturer.
Life
Jane Fox was born at Perran-arworthal, Cornwall, ...
(b. Perran-ar-worthal, Cornwall, 22 October 1809; d. Whalley Range, Manchester, 14 September 1863)
*
Catharine H. Esling
Catharine H. Waterman (, Waterman; after marriage, Esling; April 12, 1812 - April 6, 1897) was an American author and poet who contributed to the periodical literature. Her publications included books, edited volumes, as well as hymns.
Biography ...
(b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 12 April 12, 1812; d. Philadelphia, 6 April 1897)
*Emma Leslie Toke (b. Holywood, near Belfast, 9 August 1812; d. Ryde, Isle of Wight, 29 September 1878)
*Lady Georgiana Charlotte (née Leveson-Gower) Fullerton (b. Tixhall Hall, Staffordshire, 23 September 1812; d. Bournemouth, Hampshire, 19 January 1885)
*Mary (Bowly) Peters (b. Cirencester, 17 April 1813; d. Clifton, Bristol, 29 July 1856)
*
Jemima Luke
Jemima Luke (1813–1906) was an English writer of hymns, religious studies and biographies during the Victorian era. She is best known for her children's hymn ''"I think when I read that sweet story of old"''.
Early life and education
Jemima Lu ...
(b. London, 19 August 1813; d. Newport, Isle of Wight, 2 February 1906)
*Mary Duncan (b. Kelso, 26 April 1814; d. Cleish, Kinross-shire, 5 January 1840)
*Lucy Akerman (b. Wrentham, Massachusetts, 21 February 1816; d. Providence, Rhode Island, 21 February 1874)
*Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817 – 1878)
* Elvina M. Hall (1818-1889)
* Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (b. Portland, Maine, 26 October 1818; d. Dorset, Vermont, 13 August 1878)
*
Cecil Frances Alexander
Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "All Things Bright and Beautiful", "There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's Cit ...
(]1818 – ]1895)
* Julia Ward Howe (b. New York, 27 May 1819; d. Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 17 October 1910)
* Fanny Crosby (1820 – 1915)
*Anne Thorton Brontë (b. near Bradford, Yorkshire, 17 January 1820; d. Scarborough, Yorkshire, 28 May 1849)
* Charlotte Maria Tucker (b. Friern Hatch, Barnet, 8 May 1821; d Amritsar, India, 2 December 1893)
*Martha Matilda Stockton (b. Washington, North Carolina, 12 June 1821; d. Camden, New Jersey, 18 October 1885)
*
Anna Laetitia Waring
Anna Letitia Waring (or Anna Laetitia Waring; 19 April 1823 – 10 May 1910) was a Welsh poet and Anglican hymn-writer. Her philanthropic support included the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. She brought out her first hymn collection in 1850 ...
(1823 – 1910)
* Anne Ross Cundell Cousin (b. Hull, Yorkshire, 27 April 1824; d. Edinburgh, 6 December 1906)
*
Adelaide Anne Procter
Adelaide Anne Procter (30 October 1825 – 2 February 1864) was an English poet and philanthropist.
Her literary career began when she was a teenager, her poems appearing in Charles Dickens's periodicals ''Household Words'' and '' All the ...
(b. London, 30 October 1825; d. London, 2 February 1864)
* Julie Hausmann (b. Riga, Latvia, 7 March 1826; d. Wösso (now Võsu, Estonia), 15 August 1901)
*Mary Shekleton (b., place and date unknown, 1827; d. Dublin, 28 September 1883)
*
Anna Bartlett Warner
Anna Bartlett Warner (August 31, 1827 – January 22, 1915) was an American writer, the author of several books, and of poems set to music as hymns and religious songs for children.
Biography
Anna Bartlett Warner was born on Long Island on August ...
(b. New York, 31 August 1827; d. Constitution Island, 22 January 1915)
* Emma Frances Shuttleworth Bevan (b. Oxford, 25 September 1827; d. Cannes, France, 15 March 1909)
* Catherine Winkworth (1827 – 1878)
*
Emily Sullivan Oakey
Emily S. Oakey (sometimes incorrectly spelled, "Oakley"; October 8, 1829 – May 11, 1883) was an American educator, author, and poet. She published ''Dialogues and Conversations'' in 1879, and ''At the Foot of Parnassus'' in 1883.
Biography
Emil ...
(b. Albany, New York, U.S., 1829; d. Albany, 1883)
* Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894)
* Elizabeth Cecilia Douglas Clephane (b. Edinburgh, 18 June 1830; d. Melrose, Roxburghshire, 19 February 1869)
*Adelaide Thrupp (b. London, 1831; d. Guildford, Surrey, 1908)
* Lina Sandell-Berg (b. 3 October 1832; d. 27 July 1903)
*Mary Ann Sidebotham (b. London, 31 July 1833; d. Ryde, Isle of Wight, 20 February 1913)
*
Marianne Farningham
Mary Anne Hearn (17 December 1834 – 16 March 1909) who wrote under the nom de plumes Marianne Farningham in ''The Christian World'' and for ''A Working Woman's Life'', Eva Hope, and Marianne Hearn, was a British people, British religious writer ...
(b. Farningham, Kent, 17 Dec 1834; d. Barmouth, Merioneth, Wales, 16 March 1909)
*Eleonore (née Gräfin ountesszu Stolberg-Werningerode Reuss (b. Gedern am Vogelsberg, Hesse, 20 February 1835; d. Schloss Ilsenberg, near Bad Harzburg, 18 September 1903)
*Annie Sherwood Hawks (b. Hoosick, New York, 25 or 28 May 1835 or 1836; d. Bennington, Vermont, 3 January 1918)
*
Frances Ridley Havergal
Frances Ridley Havergal (14 December 1836 – 3 June 1879) was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. ''Take My Life and Let it Be'' and ''Thy Life for Me'' (also known as ''I Gave My Life for Thee'') are two of her best known hymns. She also ...
(1836 – 1879)
*Annie Louisa Coghill (b. Brewood, Staffordshire, 23 June 1836; d. Bath, Somerset, 7 July 1907)
* Elizabeth Wordsworth (b. Harrow, Middlesex, 22 June 1840; d. Oxford, 30 November 1932)
*
Mary Artemisia Lathbury
Mary Artemisia Lathbury (August 10, 1841 - October 20, 1913) was an American poet and hymnwriter.
Early life
Lathbury was born on August 10, 1841 in Manchester, New York. Her father, along with her two brothers, were Methodist ministers. As a chi ...
(1841-1913)
*Mary "May" Butler (b. 1841, Langar, near Bingham, Nottinghamshire; d. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 6 January 1916)
*
Ella Sophia Armitage
Ella Sophia Armitage (3 March 1841 – 20 March 1931) was an English historian and archaeologist.
Life
Armitage was born Ella Sophia Bulley in Liverpool, the second daughter of Samuel Marshall Bulley, a cotton merchant, and Mary Rachel Raffles ...
(b. Liverpool, 3 March 1841; d. Leeds, 20 March 1931)
*
Clara H. Scott
Clara H. Scott (December 3, 1841 – June 21, 1897), née Fiske, was an American composer, hymnwriter and publisher. She was the first woman to publish a volume of anthems, the ''Royal Anthem Book'', in 1882. Scott was also well known for her hym ...
(b. Elk Grove, Cook County, Illinois, 3 December 1841; d. Dubuque, Iowa, 21 June 1897)
*Isabella Stephana Stevenson (b. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 31 July 1843; d. Cheltenham, 28 April 1890)
*Lady Victoria Cecil Evans-Freke Carbury (b. 6 November 1843; d. 22 February 1932)
*Annie Herbert Barker (b. Leon, New York State, 1844; d. San Rafael, California, 21 January 1932)
*Constance Headlam Coote (b. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 30 December 1844; d. Tunbridge Wells, 16 August 1936)
*
Harriet Reynolds Krauth Spaeth
Harriet Reynolds Krauth Spaeth (September 21, 1845 – May 5, 1925) was an American organist, translator, and hymn writer.
Early life
Harriet Reynolds Krauth was born in Baltimore, the daughter of Charles Porterfield Krauth and Susan Reynolds ...
(b. Baltimore, Maryland, 21 September 1845; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 May 1925)
*Bessie Porter Head (b. 1849/1850, exact date unknown; d. Wimbledon, Surrey, 28 June 1936)
*
Caroline Maria Noel
Caroline Maria Noel (1817–1877) was an English hymnographer. Her processional hymn, " At the Name of Jesus", was noteworthy, growing in favor in England and in the U.S., and being included in several standard hymnals.
Life
Noel was born on ...
(b. Teston, Kent, England, 10 April 1817; d. St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England, 7 December 1877)
1850-1900
*Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 June 1851; d. Philadelphia, 24 April 1920)
*Ellen Lakshmi Goreh (b. Benares (now Varanasi), India, 11 Sept 1853; d. Cawnpore (Kanpur), 1937)
*Carrie Elizabeth Ellis Breck (b. Walden, Vermont, 22 January 1855; d. Portland, Oregon, 27 March 1934)
*Geneviève Mary Irons (b. Brompton, London, 28 December 1855; d. Eastbourne, Sussex, 13 December 1928)
*Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney (b. London, 4 October 1858; d. London, 15 June 1932)
* Eleanor Henrietta Hull (b. Cheetham, Manchester, 15 Jan 1860; d. Wimbledon, Surrey, 13 Jan 1935)
*Ada Rundall Greenaway (1861-1937)
*Ada Ruth Habershon (b. Marylebone, London, 8 January 1861; d. London, 1 February 1918)
* Lelia Morris (b. Pennsville, Ohio, 15 April 1862; d. Auburn, Ohio, 23 July 1929)
*Adelaide Addison Pollard (b. Bloomfield, Iowa, 27 November 1862; d. New York City, 20 December 1934)
*Jessie Adams (b. Ipswich, Suffolk, 9 September 1863; d. York, 15 July 1954)
*Harriet (Hattie) Pierson (b. Canaan, New York, 1865; d. Sagaponack (a village in the Town of Southampton), New York, 25 February 1921)
*Civilla Durfee Holden Martin (b. Jordan, Nova Scotia, 21 August 1866; d. Atlanta, Georgia, 9 March 1948)
*Amy Carmichael (b. Millisle, Co Down, Ireland (later Northern Ireland), 16 December 1867; d. Tirunelveli, India, 18 January 1951)
* Laura L. Copenhaver (b. Columbus, Texas, 29 August 1868; d. Rosemont, Marion, Virginia, 18 December 1940)
*Alda Marguerite Milner-Barry (b. Scothorne (now Scothern), Lincolnshire, 18 August 1875; d. Weston-super-Mare, 15 April 1940)
*Frances Whitmarsh Wile (b. Bristol Centre, New York, 2 December 1878; d. Rochester, New York, 31 July 1939)
*Mary E. Byrne (b. Dublin, Ireland, 2 July 1880; d. Dublin, 19 January 1931)
* Eleanor Farjeon (b. Westminster, London, 13 February 1881; d. Hampstead, London, 5 June 1965)
* Lucie Eddie Campbell-Williams (b. Duck Hill, Mississippi, 30 April 1885; d. Nashville, Tennessee, 3 January 1963)
*Anna Bernardine Dorthy Hoppe (b. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 7 May 1889; d. Milwaukee, 2 August 1941)
*Mary Susannah Edgar (b. Sundridge, Ontario, 23 May 1889; d. Toronto, 17 September 1973)
*
Georgia Harkness
Georgia Elma Harkness (1891–1974) was an American Methodist theologian and philosopher. Harkness has been described as one of the first significant American female theologians and was important in the movement to legalize the ordination of wome ...
(b. Harkness, New York (the town was named after her grandfather), 21 April 1891)
* Katherine Kennicott Davis (b. St Joseph, Missouri, 25 June 1892; d. Concord, Massachusetts, 20 April 1980)
*Maria Ferschl (b. Melk, Austria, 18 March 1895; d. Saulgau, Baden-Württemberg, 10 April 1982)
* Avis Christiansen (1895-1985)
*Helen Kim (b. Inchon, Korea, 27 February 1899; d. Seoul, Republic of Korea (South Korea), 10 February 1970)
1900-1950
*Miriam (Leyrer) Drury (b. Santa Ana, California, 1900; d. Pasadena, California, 1985)
*Ruth Carter (b. Clapton, London, 22 August 1900; d. Clacton, Essex, 4 November 1982)
*Anastasia Van Burkalow (b. Buchanan, New York, 16 March 1911; d. Wantage, New Jersey, 14 January 2004)
* Maria Luise Thurmair (b. Bozen, Süd Tirol, Austria (now Bolzano, Alto Adige, Italy), 27 September 1912; d. Germering, München, 24 October 2005)
*
Pilar Manalo Danao
Pilar Manalo Danao (March 10, 1914 - November 26, 1987) also known as Ka Pilar, Manang and PMD, was the eldest daughter of Felix Y. Manalo and the first Head Choir Director of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) from 1942 until her death in 1987. She ...
(b. Santa Ana, Manila, 10 March 1914: d. 26 November 1987)
*Honor Mary Thwaites (b. Young, New South Wales, Australia, 21 September 1914; d. Canberra, 24 November 1993)
*Anna Martina Gottschick (b. Dresden, 29 Sept 1914; d. Kassel. 8 Nov 1995)
*Margaret Clarkson (b. Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada, 8 June 1915; d. Toronto, 17 March 2008)
*Olive Adelaide (Wise) Spannaus (b. St Louis, Missouri, 23 January 1916; d. Seattle, Washington, 10 May 2018)
*Audrey Mae Mieir (b. Leechburg, Pennsylvania, 12 May 1916; d. 3 November 1996)
* Doris Akers (b. Brookfield, Missouri, 21 May 1922; d. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 26 July 1995)
*Estelle White (b. South Shields, County Durham (now in Tyne and Wear), 4 December 1925; d. 9 February 2011)
*
Alice Parker
Alice Parker (born December 16, 1925) is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and teacher. She has authored five operas, eleven song-cycles, thirty-three cantatas, eleven works for chorus and orchestra, forty-seven choral suites, and ...
(b. Boston, 16 December 1925)
*Jane McAfee Parker Huber (b. Jinan, China, 24 October 1926; d. Hanover, Indiana, 15 November 2008)
*Mary Louise Enigson VanDyke (b. Rochester, Pennsylvania, 28 Feb 1927)
*Catherine Cameron (b. St John, New Brunswick, Canada, 27 March 1927)
*Lois Clara Kroehler (b. Saint Louis, Missouri, 9 September 1927; d. Bremerton, Washington, 3 August 2019)
*Cecily Taylor (b. Coulsdon, Surrey, 25 March 1930)
*Judith Beatrice O'Neill (b. Melbourne, Australia, 3 June 1930)
*
Natalie Sleeth
Natalie Allyn Sleeth (née Wakeley; October 29, 1930 – March 21, 1992) was an American composer of hymns and choral music.Dottie Rambo (b. Madisonville, Kentucky, 2 March 1934; d. Mount Vernon, Missouri, 11 May 2008)
*Eluned (Cornish) Harrison (b. Cardiff, South Wales, 19 December 1934)
*Jill Jenkins (b. Ealing, west London, 14 October 1937)
*Miriam Therese Winter (b. Passaic, New Jersey, 14 June 1938)
*
Delores Dufner
Delores Dufner is an American sacred music composer, librettist, and organist whose works have been included in Catholic hymnals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Dufner is a nun of the Order of Saint Benedict at ...
(b. near Buxton, North Dakota, 20 February 1939)
*Alison Margaret Robertson (b. Glasgow, 22 February 1940)
*
Claire Cloninger
Claire Cloninger (August 12, 1942 – August 15, 2019) was an American songwriter of contemporary Christian music, author and speaker. She (co-)wrote hundreds of songs, including "You Gave Me Love When Nobody Gave Me A Prayer" with Archie Jordan ...
(b. Lafayette, Louisiana, 12 August 1942; d. 15 August 2019)
*Simei Monteiro (b. Belém, Brazil, 28 December 1943)
*
Ruth C. Duck Ruth Carolyn Duck (born November 21, 1947) is an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, a liturgical theologian and retired professor of worship who taught for 27 years at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Duck ...
(b. Washington, DC, 21 November 1944)
*Anna Briggs (b. Newcastle upon Tyne, 15 February 1947)
1950-present
*
Kathy Galloway
Kathy Galloway is an ordained Church of Scotland minister and was, in 2002 the first woman to be elected leader of the Iona Community. Kathy Galloway has worked for Christian Aid and Church Action on Poverty. Along with John Saxbee and Michael Ta ...
(b. Dumfries, Scotland, 6 August 1952)
*Margaret Louise Barrell (b. Ashburton, New Zealand, 30 December 1952)
*Susan Palo Cherwien (b. Ashtabula, Ohio, 4 May 1954, d. 28 December 2021)
*Mary Louise Bringle (b. Ripley, Tennessee, 31 July 1953)
*Mary Yoke Thue Gan (. Jasin, Melaka, Malaysia, 14 November 1954)
*Sylvia Dunstan (b. Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, 26 May 1955; d. 25 July 1993)
*Elizabeth Smith (b. Stawell, Victoria, Australia, 27 February 1956)
* Maggi Eleanor Dawn (b. 1959)
*Geraldine Latty (b. 1963)
* Darlene Joyce Zscech (b. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 8 September 1965)
* Kristyn Getty (born 1980)
*Emma Turl (b. 1946)