Biography of Maria Hackett
By B.F.
Family and History
Born in 1783 in Birmingham, Maria Hackett, who never married, lived the entirety of her long life in England; when she passed in 1874, she was roughly 90 years old (Gatens). She did much notable philanthropic work in her life, specifically in helping the young boys in the cathedral and Anglican choirs of England. As mentioned, Maria Hackett was a philanthropist, but she was also a classical scholar, a lover of the cathedral and its music as well as those involved within it (Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Obituaries). At the beginning of her life, it was when she was only four months old that her father Joseph Hackett died; four years later in 1787, her mother Grace Hackett remarried to a man named Samuel Capper in 1787 (Gatens). After Hackett’s mother gave birth to two sons, Samuel Capper unfortunately died three years later, and the family relocated to London, to move in with Samuel’s unmarried brother and provision broker/agent, George Capper (Gatens). One of his properties located in Crosby Square is where Maria Hackett would later live (Gatens).
Her Work
In her adult life, Maria Hackett dedicated her life to bettering the poor conditions of the choir boys of the cathedrals and Anglican churches throughout England (Gatens). This interest in the choir began around 1810-1811, after she had enrolled her young cousin Henry Wintle into the choir, which is when she first learned of how they were being treated (Gedge, 466). Hackett had become aware that the choir boys had not been receiving the care and resources they were entitled to, such as proper education, housing, supervision, and were still being hired out often, with those who were supposed to be responsible for them hoarding the funds for themselves (Gatens). To correct the injustice and help the choristers, Maria Hackett began researching the church and started sending letters to the officials of the organization, including the bishop of London in hopes of bringing attention to the problem (Gedge, 466). However, this led to no actions as the church officials met Hackett’s letter with only evasion to dissuade giving direct answers (Gedge, 466). It was later in 1813 that Hackett, with the help of her family, attempted to take legal action against the cathedral over the conditions, but when they realized how high the costs would be, they had to unfortunately drop the case (Gatens). What resulted a year after, was apparently a court order was filed that did manage to divert some of the funds back to the choristers, although there are few details on further information abbot it (Gatens).
Even though some of the funds had now been redirected back to the choristers, Hackett continued her writing of letters and gained sufficient knowledge about the church and its history to publish A Popular Account of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1816 (Gatens). The book itself, over the time span of roughly 20 years, was reprinted in more than 20 different editions (Gatens). Still in her efforts to provide for the choristers, in 1827 she published A Brief Account of Cathedral and Collegiate Schools, with an abstract of their statues and endowments, which was said to revolutionize the choir-school system throughout England and Wales (Gedge, 470). This act showed that as a person she was well educated and even more researched/dedicated in her work about the church, as well as how much interest and her life she chose to invest in the topic. Later, in 1831, Hackett was even able to establish an award called the Gresham prize for cathedral compositions to award the best composers of services within the church, even furthering her relationship with the church (Gedge, 470). In terms of other accomplishments, in 1832, Hackett took on the task of saving Crosby Hall, a historic building that served many important purposes to England including housing royalty and is the remainder of what survived both the Great Fire of London and a second fire within the building (Wikipedia). Hackett played a large part by both personally taking on the lease and overseeing parts of the actual restoration herself such as the laying of stone for tiling (Gatens).
The Continuation of Her Life
From this point onwards, in Maria Hackett’ efforts and interest in the church and its choirs did not seem to lessen by any means. For most of the rest of her life, Maria Hackett remained involved with the choristers as a devoted friend to them and from her efforts, gained her title as the “Chorister’s Friend” (Gatens). As such, Maria Hackett would visit the cathedrals every autumn over a six-week tour and would bring gifts for the choristers such as “a book, a purse, and a new shilling” (Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Obituaries). In this, she seemed to be quite personable and caring towards the choristers as she had even noted the names of the boys of the choirs in her diary (Gatens). Even more, she had helped almost every cathedral in England and went as far as to pay for private music lessons for some of the choristers (Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Obituaries). Lastly, in her own devotion, over 60 years she had rarely missed the services held at St. Paul’s cathedral on Sunday, demonstrating just how large and important part of her life it was (Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Obituaries).
To close, after her death, in 1877 the nations choirs raised funds by subscription to establish a cenotaph in her name at the St. Paul’s Cathedral (Gatens). This action on the part of the choristers and their kind gesture to honor her work shows how impactful and meaningful Maria Hackett was in their lives. Maria Hackett’s devotion to bettering the lives of the choristers has truly shown through in her life story, as although it was a long struggle, Hackett persevered simply for the sake of others and found her passion and life's work in helping them.
Works Cited
"Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries." Jackson's Oxford Journal [1809], 14 Nov. 1874. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/apps/doc/Y3202683055/GDCS?u=sfu_z39&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=8523148b. Accessed 14 Oct. 2021.
Gatens, William J. "Hackett, Maria (1783–1874), philanthropist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23. Oxford University Press. Date of access 4 Oct. 2021, <https://www-oxforddnb-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-47467>
Gedge, David. “The Choristers' Friend: Maria Hackett and Her Reforming Zeal.” The Musical Times, vol. 132, no. 1783, Orpheus Publications Ltd, 1991, pp. 466–470, doi:10.2307/965657.
Wikipedia Foundation. “Crosby Hall, London” 8 October, 2021. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crosby_Hall,_London&action=history
