Her parents were Honour (born Coles) and a clothier named John Cook.

She enjoyed reading and other pastimes but she dwelt upon a crime she had committed: it was never discovered that she had stolen a shilling but her conscience troubled her.

She would write letters to local ministers questioning their behaviour if they attended a ball and she would walk out with other followers to hear preachers.

Their ambitions also included another chapel in her husband's home town of Tisbury, Wiltshire.

In 1787 her friend Mary Wells edited her diaries and letter into a book, titled "The Triumph of Faith Over the World, the Flesh and the Devil...".