The old nursery rhyme 'There was an old woman of Leeds' is believed to refer to a woman called Sarah Keighley. Sarah Keighley was a pious woman, from the English town of Leeds. She had strong Calvinistic principles and was the aunt of the American theologian Joseph Priestley (1733-1804). Priestley is usually remembered for his 1774 discovery, in England, of oxygen. Priestley left England for a new life in Pennsylvania where he counted Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Watt amongst his friends..

There was an Old Woman of Leeds
Nursery Rhyme lyrics, origins and history

There was an old woman of Leeds
Who spent all her time in good deeds;
She worked for the poor
Till her fingers were sore,
This pious old woman of Leeds.

There was an Old Woman of Leeds
Nursery Rhyme lyrics, origins and history