Biography of Anne Home Hunter

Anne Home Hunter was an eighteenth-century poet and songwriter whose popular works were widely circulated during her lifetime. Although Anne Hunter did not enjoy the same acclaim as her works due to her penchant for anonymous publication, her life and writings have been studied posthumously as her poems and songs are well-loved remnants of a woman who lived a humble life.

It is believed that Anne Home Hunter was born in Waterford, Ireland in 1742 to Robert and Mary Home. Robert Home was a poorly-paid army surgeon, and Anne Hunter was probably educated solely by her mother until her late teens. The Hunter family moved to Scotland around 1758, and Anne spent the summer of 1762 in London with her father. In London, Anne met Alice Lee, an American orphan who would remain her lifelong friend. This same summer, she wrote her first known poem, “The Flowers of the Forest” which appeared in anonymously published form in 1764 and was republished numerous times. 

By 1763 the Home family had permanently moved to London. Anne soon became acquainted with John Hunter, a surgeon who had previously been housemates with her friend Alice’s husband. The pair fell in love while Anne was under John’s care for a mysterious illness, and they became engaged in 1763. Monetary issues forced a long engagement, and they were married in 1771.

In 1793, John Hunter died, leaving Anne and her two children in financial distress. It wasn’t until after this strain was relieved in 1799 by “the sale of her husbands effects” (Floyd). that Anne was persuaded to publish a collection of her verses. Ever modest, she published under the name “Ms. John Hunter” and presented herself as an ameteur hobbyist of a poetess. However, her work was noticed by composer Franz Joseph Hayden. Between 1815 and 1818, Anne wrote numerous poems to be set to Hayden’s music, and the pairing was widely successful. 

While Anne lived out the rest of her life quietly, she remained a prolific writer of poetry and hymns, most of which were published under humble titles that kept her authorship private. Her work, however, was extremely popular, and many of her hymns became well-known songs. Anne Hunter died in 1821, but her work lives on. 

Floyd, Daniel F. “Anne Hunter’s Poetry in Manuscript: A Rare Discovery.” Notes and Queries, vol. 55, no. 4, 2008, pp. 411–413., EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/notesj/gjn142.

Grigson, Caroline, editor. The Life and Poems of Anne Hunter: Haydn’s Tuneful Voice. Oxford, England. Liverpool University Press, 2009, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vjjwg. Accessed 18 Feb. 2022.