Arabella Katherine Hankey

Arabella Katherine Hankey, commonly known as Kate Hankey, was born in Clapham, London, in 1834. She grew up in a prosperous banking family connected with the evangelical Anglican culture of Clapham. As a young woman she taught Bible classes for London shop girls, visited hospital patients, and supported home and overseas mission work. A documented journey to South Africa placed her alongside an ill brother and involved nursing service. These activities make the missionary voice of her writing biographically credible rather than merely literary.

During a prolonged recovery from serious illness in 1866, Hankey composed a long narrative poem about Christ titled The Old, Old Story. Its two parts were dated January and November of that year. The hymn I Love to Tell the Story was drawn from Part II, The Story Told; a companion hymn, Tell Me the Old, Old Story, came from Part I. Her writings also included Heart to Heart in 1870 and The Old, Old Story and Other Verses in 1879.

Hankey used income from her publications to aid mission causes. Her enduring importance rests on joining personal Christian testimony with plain, memorable language suited to congregational song. Sources vary between the spellings Katherine and Catherine, while hymnals also frequently identify her simply as Kate Hankey; this record retains the widely established form Arabella Katherine Hankey.