ADAMS, SARAH (FULLER) FLOWER: English Unitarian; b. at Harlow (25 m. n.e. of London),
Essex, Feb. 22, 1805; d. in London Aug.14, 1848. Her father was Benjamin
Flower (1755-1829), printer, editor, and political writer, and, Sept. 24,
1834, she married William Bridges Adams (1797-1872), an inventor and engineer
of distinction, also a writer on political subjects. She was a highly gifted
woman, much esteemed by a circle of friends which included, among others,
W. J. Linton, Harriet Martineau, Leigh Hunt, and Robert Browning. Inherited
deafness and a weak constitution prevented her from following the stage
as a profession, which she had chosen in the belief that "the drama
is an epitome of the mind and manners of mankind, and wise men in all ages
have agreed to make it, what in truth it ought to be, a supplement to the
pulpit." She wrote poems on social and political subjects, chiefly
for the Anti-Corn-Law League; contributed poems and articles to the Monthly
Repository during the years 1832-53, when it was conducted by her pastor
W. J. Fox (q.v.), and published a long poem, The Royal Progress, in
the Illuminated Magazine in 1845. In book form she published Vivia
Perpetua, a Dramatic Poem (London, 1841; reprinted with her hymns and
a memoir by Mrs. E. F. Bridell-Fox, 1893), and The Flock at the Fountain
(1845), a catechism. In addition, she furnished fourteen original hymns
and two translations to Hymns and Anthems (1840), a collection for
Fox's chapel at Finsbury, including her best-known production, Nearer,
my God, to thee. Her sister, Eliza Flower (1803-46), possessed much
musical talent and furnished the original music for this hymn as well as
for others in the book.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: DNB, i. 101; S. W. Duffleld, English Hymns
pp. 382-386, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, p.16; N. Smith,
Hymns Historically Famous, pp. 174-
182, Chicago, 1901.