Sarah Savage (nee Henry) (7 August 1664 – 27 February 1752) was an English diarist. She started her diary at age 22 and continued a daily diary until her 80s. Her diaries are a resource providing insight into the daily spiritual life of seventeenth and eighteenth century women.
What is Life:Life about Sarah Savage?
Sarah Henry was born on the 7th of August, 1664 in Broad Oak, Flintshire, Wales to parents Philip and Katherine Henry. Her father, Philip, was a nonconformist minister. Being the second oldest of six children, one of her siblings included Matthew Henry. Sarah’s education was primarily home-based where she learned to read under the guidance of William Turner. By the age of seven, her father had begun teaching her Hebrew.
In August 1686, she started maintaining a “Spiritual Diary”. On March 28th, 1687, she married John Savage who was a farmer and land agent by profession. The couple had nine children together but tragically only four lived beyond childhood. Sarah became a widow when John passed away on September 29th, 1729.
She spent her retirement years in West Bromwich from 1736 onwards. Sarah Savage left this world on February 27th, 1752 at her residence in West Bromwich.
Is This a Diary About Sarah Savage?
She regularly recorded the sermons she heard in her diaries, attributing her faith to numerous aspects of her daily life. These included her initial fear of infertility (she eventually became a mother), the loss of two children, the passing of her husband when she was 65, and her own impending death at 87 years old. Through these diaries, she also maintained an imaginary dialogue with a dearly departed friend, Jane Hunt. She’d construct conversations between herself and Hunt, drawing from Hunt’s personal diaries, letters, and books.
Only parts of Savage’s diary still exist today: those dating from August 1686 to December 1st 1688 and those from 1714 to 1723. The first publication of these diaries took place in 1818 by John Bickerton Williams, a relative from Savage’s Henry side. They were published under the title “Memoirs of the Life and Character of Mrs. Sarah Savage”.
