Author: Harrison, Susanna
Biography:
by
Jackson, Heather (HJ)
HARRISON, Susanna (1752-1784: ODNB)
Songs in the Night, which ran to 15 editions in Britain by 1823 and to six in the US by 1821, was at first published anonymously as by "a young woman under heavy afflictions." Harrison had entrusted her poems to John Conder, a Congregationalist minister, for posthumous publication, but he persuaded her to publish with the hope of bringing comfort to others in distress. The first edition included a silhouette portrait of the author. For the second edition Conder encouraged her to reveal her name with an acrostic. (She spells it "Susanna.") Most of the available biographical information about her comes from Conder's two prefaces; he himself died in 1781, following a stroke. She was probably born in Ipswich, entered domestic service at sixteen, but was permanently disabled in 1772 and spent the rest of her life as an invalid. A broadside poem, published separately, was A Call to Britain, of uncertain date. Harrison died on 3 Aug. 1784 and was buried in the Christ Church churchyard, Ipswich. The fourth edition of Songs in the Night (Ipswich 1788) includes some previously unpublished material, both verse and prose. (ODNB 25 Feb. 2019; Goodridge; ancestry.com 1 July 2026) HJ
Other Names:
- Susannah Harrison