Sarah Doudney

Sarah Doudney was an English fiction writer, poet, and hymn writer, born in Portsea, Portsmouth, in 1841 and later dying in Oxford in 1926. She became especially known for children’s literature and devotional writing, producing novels, poems, and hymns that were widely read in religious and family circles.

She began writing young, and her early poem The Lessons of the Water-Mill helped bring her notice. Over time she published a substantial body of work, including fiction for girls and young readers, as well as hymns that outlived many of her books. Her best-known hymn is often noted as "The Christian’s Good-Night," remembered for its calm, hopeful tone.

Doudney never married, and much of her writing reflects the earnest Protestant culture in which she lived. Even when her stories are strongly moral, they are also clear, direct, and sincere, which helps explain why her work remained popular with readers looking for comfort, guidance, and gentle storytelling.