Sarah Fuller Flower Adams

Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams) A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", reportedly played by the band as the RMS Titanic sank in 1912.

Early life and education Sarah Fuller Flower was born 22 February 1805, at Old Harlow, Essex, and baptised in September 1806 at the Water Lane Independent Chapel in Bishops Stortford. She was the younger daughter of the radical editor Benjamin Flower, and his wife Eliza Gould. Her uncles included Richard Flower, who emigrated to the United States in 1822 and was a founder of the town of Albion, Illinois; and the nonconformist minister John Clayton.

Her mother died when she was only five years old and initially her father, a liberal in politics and religion, brought the daughters up, taking a hand in their education. The family moved to Dalston in Middlesex, where they met the writer Harriet Martineau, who was struck by the two sisters and used them for her novel "Deerbrook". In 1823, on a holiday in Scotland with friends of the radical preacher William Johnson Fox, the minister of South Place Unitarian Chapel, London, who was a frequent visitor to their home, Adams broke the female record for climbing up Ben Lomond. Back home, the girls became friends with the young poet Robert Browning, who discussed his religious doubts with Adams.

Personal life A Unitarian in belief, she was hampered in her career by deafness that she had inherited from her father and, inheriting their mother's feebleness, both sisters yielded to disease in middle age. Eliza, after a lingering illness, died in December 1846 and, worn down by caring for her invalid sister, Adams' health gradually declined. She died on 14 August 1848 at the age of 43 and was buried beside her sister and parents in the Foster Street cemetery near Harlow. "Darkness shrouded Calvary." "Gently fall the dews of eve." "Go, and watch the Autumn leaves." "O hallowed memories of the past." "O human heart! thou hast a song." "O I would sing a song of praise." "O Love! thou makest all things even." "Part in Peace! is day before us?" "Sing to the Lord! for His mercies are sure." "The mourners came at break of day."