author
Florence Hoatson
An English poet and hymn writer with a gift for speaking to children, she wrote verses that are simple, musical, and quietly thoughtful. Her work blends everyday warmth with a gentle spiritual voice that helped make her poems and hymns endure.
1 Audiobook
The little white gate
by Florence Hoatson
About the author
Born in Leyton, East London, on October 13, 1881, Florence Mary Hoatson was the daughter of a Congregational minister. She spent part of her childhood in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Melbourne, Australia, experiences that shaped the broad, practical outlook found in her writing.
Hoatson worked mainly as a teacher, specializing in infant and primary education, though for a few years from 1917 to 1920 she also worked in hospital administration. Alongside that career, she built a reputation as a poet and hymn writer, especially for work that spoke clearly and kindly to young readers.
She died in Micheldean, Gloucestershire, on January 28, 1964. Today she is remembered for poetry and hymns marked by clarity, tenderness, and an easy rhythm that made them especially appealing in homes, classrooms, and devotional reading.