Anna Hinderer

1827-1870 19th century

Holding a modest post for a very long time, and still finding reason there to give thanks.

Who was Anna Hinderer?

Born at Hempnall in Norfolk, motherless at five, brought up at Lowestoft. In 1852 she married the missionary David Hinderer and went with him to Ibadan, in Yorubaland. She spent seventeen years there, keeping a school and a house full of children, through local wars that cut them off from the coast for five years. Fever brought her back to England several times; each time she returned, and she died at forty-three.

In their own words

He who only knoweth the future steps of His children was preparing me in a way I understood not.

Recollections of her Lowestoft years, p. 14, in Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country, 1872

Our God gives us such blessings, and sweetens our path where we could least expect it.

Journal, 17 December 1852, in Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country, 1872

I feel thankful to have got on so far, and do from my heart desire that the life so mercifully spared may be afresh and more entirely devoted to my Master's service.

Letter to her aunt, Lagos, 25 January 1853, p. 29, in Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country, 1872

I tried in the stillness of the bush to draw near to the Living Fountain, to seek help, comfort, and protection in our great undertaking, and I had some precious hours.

Account of the journey from Abeokuta to Ibadan, 25 April 1853, p. 52, in Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country, 1872

A glimmering hope of [meeting you in heaven] dries the eye, and cheers the heart.

Journal, 5 May 1853 (Ascension Day), p. 63, in Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country, 1872