Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kilham, Hannah
KILHAM, Mrs. HANNAH (1774–1832), missionary and student of African languages, born at Sheffield on 12 Aug. 1774, was seventh child of Peter and Hannah Spurr, respectable tradespeople of Sheffield. Although brought up as a member of the established church, she was permitted to attend Wesley's early morning services, and at the age of twenty joined the Wesleyans. Her mother's death when she was twelve (1786) placed her at the head of the household, which consisted of her father and five brothers. Two years after her father died, and she was sent to a boarding-school at Chesterfield, where she made more rapid progress than her master approved. On 12 April 1798 she became the second wife of Alexander Kilham [q. v.], founder of the ‘methodist new connexion,’ who died at Nottingham eight months later (20 Dec. 1798). Mrs. Kilham thereupon opened a day-school in Nottingham, spending the vacations at Epworth, her husband's early home. There she became acquainted with the quakers, and in 1802 joined their society. She returned to Sheffield, and though still teaching, busied herself in philanthropic work. She originated a Society for the Bettering of the Condition of the Poor, which proved a model for many others.
In 1817 Mrs. Kilham commenced to study the best means of reducing the unwritten languages of Africa to print, so that the natives might be instructed in Christianity, and produced an elementary grammar for the children in missionary schools at Sierra Leone. From two native African sailors who were being educated at Tottenham Mrs. Kilham acquired a good knowledge of the Jaloof and Mandingo languages, and in 1820 printed anonymously ‘First Lessons in Jaloof.’
In October 1823, under the auspices of the Friends' committee ‘for promoting African instruction,’ she sailed with three of their missionaries and the two native sailors for St. Mary's, in the Gambia. Here she at once started a school, and made herself readily understood in Jaloof to the natives on the coast. She taught also at Sierra Leone, and in July 1824, after thoroughly reconnoitring the fields of labour, she returned to England to report to the committee of Friends. On her arrival she at once proceeded to Ireland, and spent several months at work under the ‘British and Irish Ladies' Society’ for relief of the famine. On 11 Nov. 1827 she once more started for Sierra Leone, taking with her a number of ‘African School Tracts’ (London, 1827), which she had published in the interval. She visited Free Town and the villages round, and in little more than two months put into writing the numerals and leading words in twenty-five languages. The state of her health soon compelled her to return home again, but on 17 Oct. 1830 she set out on her third and last voyage to Free Town. Having obtained permission from the governor to take charge of all children rescued from slave-ships, Mrs. Kilham, with the aid of a matron, founded a large school at Charlotte, a mountain village near Bathurst, and spent the rainy season there with her pupils. She then proceeded to Liberia (the Free State), visited the schools in Monrovia, and arranged for sending the children of the most influential natives to England to be trained. About 23 Feb. 1832 she sailed for Sierra Leone. The vessel was struck by lightning, and put back to Liberia. Mrs. Kilham never recovered from the shock, and died three days afterwards, at sea, on 31 March 1832. There is a silhouette portrait of her in the Friends' picture gallery at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate Street.
Besides the works above mentioned Mrs. Kilham was the author of several smaller educational books: ‘Scripture Selections,’ London, 1817; ‘Lessons on Language,’ 1818; ‘Family Maxims,’ 1818; ‘First Lessons in Spelling,’ 1818; ‘Report on a Recent Visit to Africa,’ 1827; ‘The Claims of West Africa to Christian Instruction,’ 1830, &c. Her step-daughter, Mrs. Sarah Biller of St. Petersburg, edited her memoirs and diaries in 1837.
[Life of Alexander Kilham, Nottingham, 1799; Memoir of Mrs. H. Kilham, by her step-daughter, S. Biller, London, 1837; a Sketch of H. Kilham by Mrs. C. L. Balfour, London, 1854; Letters of H. K., reprinted from the Friends' Magazine, London, 1831; Smith's Catalogue.]