Anna Letitia Waring was born at Plas-y-Velin, Neath, on April 19, 1823. She left her parents' faith, the Society of Friends, for Anglicanism, into which she was baptised on May 15, 1842. Her life-long avocations were the study of the Bible (in self-taught Hebrew), the writing of hymns, a love of animals, and charitable work for prisoners.