Author: Wallis, Hannah
Biography:
WALLIS, Hannah (1735-1806: ancestry.co.uk)
Although nothing has ever been discovered about Hannah Wallis beyond what is contained in The Female’s Meditations; Or, Common Occurrences Spiritualized in Verse (1787) as summarised by Roger Lonsdale in ECWP (407-8) and statements by reviewers that she was a “poor Methodist” (MR 1789, 279) who mistook “the enthusiasm of a Methodist for the inspiration of poetry” (CR 1790, 116), one candidate might be the Hannah Wallis who was born on 17 Nov. 1735 and baptised on 23 Nov. at Witham, Essex, the daughter of William and Hannah Wallis. Her poem “The Female’s Lamentation; or the Village Mourning” (144-50) records the deaths of her parents and siblings and refers to Bromfield Hall (sic) (146). Another poem states that “At Broomfield I dwelt” (83). Broomfield is four miles north-east of Chelmsford and Witham is eleven. There is therefore circumstantial evidence that she might have been the Hannah Wallis of Broomfield, Essex, mantuamaker, who took on an apprentice, Mary Suckling, in 1766. Her poem “Mental Prayer” and several others do indeed indicate that she was a Methodist. She also attended the Swallow Street Meeting in Piccadilly which often held Methodist missionary prayer meetings. At some point she moved to London and several of her poems record her walks and spiritual reflections (Hyde Park, St. James’s Park, Bond Street, etc.). She gave her address on the title page as 3 Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. It is therefore likely she had a non-conformist burial in central London. If that is correct, she may well have been the Hannah Wallis who was buried at Bunhill Fields on 30 Nov. 1806, aged 71, with her residence given as Queen Street, Oxford Road (i.e. Oxford Street). This is only a stone’s throw from her previous address in Duke Street and is the same street as her lead publisher C. Watts. Nevertheless, the details of her birth, occupation, and death, are all circumstantial and await corroboration or correction. (ECWP; ancestry.co.uk 1 Sept. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 1 Sept. 2022; MR; CR) AA