Charlotte Elliott

Elliott's health was improved by a visit the following year to Normandy. But in 1829 she once more became an almost helpless sufferer, with only occasional intervals of relief. In 1833, her father died. She undertook in 1834 the editorial supervision of The Christian Remembrancer Pocket Book, an Annual, and in 1836 of the Invalid's Hymn Book – works previously conducted by a friend, Miss Harriet Kiernan, who was then in the last stages of consumption. The annual she edited for 25 years and many of her poems appeared in it. To the edition of the Invalid's Hymn Book that she enlarged and edited anonymously in 1836 she contributed 115 hymns, among them the noted "Just as I am, without one plea". She contributed several hymns also in 1835 to a selection of Psalms and Hymns by her brother, Rev. Henry V. Elliott. She also published, in 1836, Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted. Her Morning and Evening Hymns for a Week, was printed privately in 1837, and published in 1842.^[9]

Visits to Scotland in 1835 and to Switzerland in 1837 benefited her considerably.^[9] Her sister-in-law, Henry's wife, died in 1841. Her mother, after a year's severe illness, died in April 1843. Two of her sisters soon followed. So her home was broken up, and in 1845 she and a surviving sister followed a summer's sojourn on the European continent by fixing their home in Torquay. After 14 years, however, she returned to Brighton.^[9]

Later years and death

Elliott was a member of the Church of England. In later years, when she was not able to attend public worship, she wrote, "My Bible is my church. It is always open, and there is my High Priest ever waiting to receive me. There I have my confessional, my thanksgiving, my psalm of praise, and a congregation of whom the world is not worthy – prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and confessors; in short, all I can want I find there."^[8]

A volume of Poems appeared in 1863, and her brother Henry died in that year.^[9] Once only, in 1867, did she venture again from home, spending a few weeks in a neighboring village. In 1869, she fell seriously ill but managed to recover.^[9] She died at 10 Norfolk Terrace, Brighton, on 22 September 1871,^[9][3] and was buried alongside her brothers in the churchyard of St Andrew's, Hove.

Elliott was a distant relative of Virginia Woolf.^[10]

Reception

Elliott wrote about 150 hymns and many poems, some of which were printed anonymously, with

wrote: "Though weak and feeble in body, she possessed a strong imagination and a well-cultured and intellectual mind.... Her verse is characterized by tenderness of feeling, plaintive simplicity, deep devotion and perfect rhythm. She sang for those in sickness and sorrow as very few others have ever done."

See also

English women hymnwriters (18th to 19th century)

• Eliza Sibbald Alderson
• Augusta Amherst Austen
• Sarah Bache
• Charlotte Alington Barnard
• Sarah Doudney
• Ada R. Habershon
• Katherine Hankey
• Frances Ridley Havergal
• Maria Grace Saffery
• Anne Steele
• Emily Taylor
• Emily H. Woodmansee

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gall & Inglis 1875, p. 217.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Hatfield 1884, p. 230.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Boase 1892, p. 981.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Hatfield 1884, p. 228.
5. ^ Julian 1892, p. 163.
6. ^ "Biography of Miss Charlotte Elliott, 1789–1871. (Spiritual Songsters)". STEM Publishing. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
7. ^ ^{a b} Petersen & Petersen 2015, p. 345.
8. ^ ^{a b} Nutter 1893, p. 131.
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Hatfield 1884, p. 229.
10. ^ Wojtczak 2008, p. 130.
11. ^ Crusader Hymns & Hymn Stories, p. 33.
12. ^ 101 Hymn Stories, Kregel
13. ^ Lorella Rouster,"The Story of Just As I Am", Sunday School Times & Gospel Herald, Summer Quarter 2007, Union Gospel Press, Cleveland, OH, p. 50.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Boase, Frederic (1892). Modern English Biography: A-H (Public domain ed.). Netherton and Worth.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Gall & Inglis (1875). Gleanings from the sacred poets, with biogr. notices of the authors (Public domain ed.). Gall & Inglis.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Hatfield, Edwin Francis (1884). The Poets of the Church: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Hymn-writers with Notes on Their Hymns (Public domain ed.). A. D. F. Randolph.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Julian, John (1892). A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting Forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations...with Biographical and Critical Notices of Their Authors and Translators (Public domain ed.). J. Murray.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Nutter, Charles Sumner (1893). Historic Hymnists: A Portrait Gallery of Great Hymn Writers (Public domain ed.). C. S. Nutter.

Bibliography

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library. "Hymn Writers of the Church". ccel.org. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
• Goddard, William H., Wonderful Words of Life Songbook with devotions, copyright 1985 by Hope Publishing Co.
• Petersen, William; Petersen, Ardythe (12 January 2015). The Complete Book of Hymns. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
  ISBN 978-1-4143-3140-9
  .
• Wojtczak, Helena (2008). Notable Sussex Women: 580 Biographical Sketches. Hastings Press.
  ISBN 978-1-904109-15-0
  .

External links

Media related to Charlotte Elliott

at Wikimedia Commons

• Works by or about Charlotte Elliott at Internet Archive
• Works by Charlotte Elliott at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Leaves From the Unpublished Journals, Letters and Poems of Charlotte Elliott from the Baylor University Digital Collections