Author: Lutton, Anne
Biography:
LUTTON, Anne (1791-1883: ODNB)
Methodist preacher. She was the youngest child of Ralph Lutton and his wife, Anne Lutton (a cousin), and was born at the family home in Moira, County Down. Her father was a classical scholar and linguist; he, like his daughter, went blind in later life. Her parents were members of the Church of Ireland but also belonged to the local Methodist society. She was strong-willed as a child and, as a result, had little formal education after she ran away from the dame school to which she was sent. However she was an avid reader who early began composing verses and, whenever she had the opportunity, studied Latin, Greek, and other languages. The family moved to a farm in Donaghcloney but returned to Moira on the death in 1816 of Lutton’s mother. Lutton began preaching at Methodist meetings which only women could attend. Her father’s death in 1828 left her in some financial distress and, as a result, she agreed to publish her poems. In 1831 she went to stay with friends in Chepstow and, later, Bristol; from then until her permanent move to Bristol in 1837 she alternated being in Dublin with staying in Chepstow or Bristol. She continued preaching and lecturing, and some of her poems were published in religious periodicals, including in America where an edition of her Poems was issued in 1842. In 1863 she lost her eyesight; over the years she also suffered from ill-health exacerbated by fasting. She died at her home in Cotham, Bristol, and was buried in Arnos Vale cemetery. Memorials of a Consecrated Life, compiled from her letters and autobiography, was published in 1882. (ODNB 3 May 2021; Memorials of a Consecrated Life [1882])