The Bronte Family

The Bronte children Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick (known as Branwell) Emily and Anne were all born within six years of each other in the village of Thornton in Yorkshire but by 1820 the family had moved to the village of Haworth on the edge of the Pennines where their father Patrick, an Irish born clergyman had been appointed rector. 

 

In September 1821 their mother Maria died after a long illness and only Charlotte was to have vague memories of their mother who she described as a vivacious presence which if so then their aunt Elizabeth who moved into the house soon after to help raise the children was very different. She was by all accounts a stern and distant woman who did not tolerate misbehaviour and who the children would learn to respect rather than love. 

Their father who despite his stern demeanour was described as a kindly and generous man even if he had an often eccentric way of displaying it would not permit the children to speak in his presence unless spoken while at meal times they were expected to remain silent throughout. 

 

In the early summer of 1825 tragedy struck the family when the two eldest girls Maria and Elizabeth died within weeks of each other after contracting a fever at the school they attended Cowan Bridge. Patrick immediately withdrew his other children, much to their relief for it was a cold and heartless place - from now on they would be educated at home. 

 

Removed from school the children now rarely left the house spending their days together reading, writing poetry and creating entire worlds from their imagination. 

 

When Patrick, referred to as Branwell out of respect for his mother was given twelve wooden soldiers by his father they became known as the Twelve Men and the children provided them each with names and fictionalised lives. They even created the mythical African country of Glass Town where they would live and fight. Emily and Anne, who were particularly close also created the world of Gondal; and so Branwell and Charlotte created their own world of Angria in response. 

 

In February 1842 their father sent Charlotte and Emily to Brussels to continue their education, but it was not a happy stay and they returned in October following the death of their aunt Elizabeth. In truth, none of the Bronte sisters ever felt entirely comfortable away from the surroundings of Haworth. 

 

As the children grew into adulthood they worked as schoolteachers and governesses with varying degrees of success but they continued to write poetry and stories referencing their imagined worlds and all aspired to a literary career. Even though it was not considered a right and proper pursuit for a woman as Charlotte was to discover when the poetry, she sent to a publisher was poorly received and swiftly returned. She remained undeterred however and always big sister to her younger siblings she suggested that they all send their poetry together but using male pseudonyms: She would be Currer Bell, Emily would be Ellis Bell, and Anne would be Acton Bell. 

 

A publisher in London expressed his concern that the book would not sell but agreed to publish it but only at the author’s own expense. He was proved right, and their collected works of poetry sold only three copies but it was the beginning of the Bronte Sisters literary career: 

Branwell Bronte was always his father’s favourite and he devoted much of his time to providing his son with a classical education encouraging him in his translation of classical texts and to pursue his dream of becoming an artist and poet. He was described as: “Almost insignificantly small with a mass of red hair which he wore brushed off his forehead – to help his height, I fancy (with) small ferrety eyes, deep sunk and still further hidden by the never removed spectacles.” 

 

Branwell was deeply insecure about his lack of stature, and he seemed constantly in need of proving himself a man and from an early age he became a regular in the local taverns drinking, as he would say, with the best of them. He suffered a setback to his ambitions when he visited the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the Lake District and though cordially received was told in no uncertain terms that he should concentrate upon his translations. He reacted to the advice by getting thoroughly drunk in the Inns and Taverns of Keswick. It was a sign of things to come. 

 

In 1835 he applied to be admitted to the Royal Academy in London but never receiving a response chose not to pursue his application. He was however to be the first of the children to have his poems published but he always seemed in awe of his sisters and was less inspired by their talents than undermined by them .Often including himself in the many sketches and paintings he did of his sisters he would then invariably brush his image out as if he already knew that posterity would not be interested in, Branwell Bronte. 

 

Towards the end of his life his alcoholism made worse by an addiction to laudanum was out of control and he had become an embarrassment to his family. Charlotte would write regularly and chastise him for his behaviour but he proved incapable of changing. 

 

In the summer of 1848, he contracted tuberculosis and there appeared to be little willingness on his part to fight the disease. Instead, he informed his sisters that he was dying and perhaps still wanting to prove himself a man insisted that he be allowed to do so standing up. It wasn’t to be, and he died in his bed on 24 September, 1848. 

 

The death of Branwell upset his family greatly. He was his father’s only son and despite his errant behaviour was much loved and admired by his sisters who saw him as their great lost talent. 

Dark and mysterious Emily will always be the little known Bronte and it is difficult to imagine someone who wrote with such passion to be the quietly spoken model of a Victorian woman who was never seen to be out of control of her emotions and rarely deviated from what was expected of her. In the preface to the 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights Charlotte wrote: 

 

 

She had been greatly affected by the death of Branwell and fell ill not long after attending his funeral having contracted the same disease. As her condition worsened, she refused medical attention declaring, “I will not have any poisoning doctor near me.” Greatly concerned, Charlotte consulted a doctor without Emily’s knowledge writing in December 1848: “She grows daily weaker. The physician’s opinion was expressed too obscurely to be of use – he sent some medicine which she would not take. Moments so dark as these I have never known – I pray for God to support us all.” 

 

Not long after Charlotte wrote these words Emily, who was so deathly pale, pitifully thin and clearly in a great deal of pain that merely to look upon would reduce one to tears took a serious turn for the worse. The following afternoon, 19 December 1848, sitting upon the sofa her breathing slow and heavy she spoke her voice by now little more than a whisper – “If you send for a doctor, I will see him now.” 

 

It was far too late and after desperately clinging onto life for a further two hours, Emily died, aged 30. Her body was so wasted that the mortician would later say that he had never made a smaller coffin for an adult woman. 

 

Emily’s only novel Wuthering Heights is now considered a classic of the English literary canon but at the time it was published the year before her death it was not well received and sold few copies. She never lived to witness its success. 

Sweet natured Anne was always much closer to Emily than she was to Charlotte whom she thought patronised her somewhat. 

 

Described as being bright and precocious she was perhaps the most like her mother for it was said her presence brightened up any occasion and she appears to have been liked by everyone who met her, but she lacked authority as her experiences as a governess was to prove. She was also far and away the most physically attractive of the Bronte sisters. Visiting Haworth Hall Charlotte’s friend Ellen Nussey left this description of her: 

 

 

In July 1846 her novel Agnes Grey was published but it was her second novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall published the following year that was particularly well-received selling out of its first run in just six weeks. 

 

Anne however had little time to enjoy her success and in January 1849 she was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. Already devastated by the death of Emily just the previous month it was said her condition weakened further as a result, though unlike her sister she did seek the help of a doctor and remained remarkably upbeat confident of a full recovery. 

 

In the spring believing that the sea air would improve her health and aid her breathing she went to stay in Scarborough along with Charlotte and Ellen Nussey but instead of improving her condition went into sharp decline and she was soon being pushed around in a wheelchair. Aware that the end was near Anne requested to be taken home to die but was too weak to travel. Cheerful to the end she met her death on 28 May 1849 with the same stoicism that had been displayed by her sister. She was 29 years of age. 

Sober Charlotte a serious woman not known for her sense of humour was always big sister often acting as a surrogate mother to her younger siblings something they sometimes resented. It was Charlotte however who encouraged them to write even if she was not always generous regarding their abilities. 

 

She is considered to be the most talented of the Bronte’s even if she was neither the most imaginative nor the most radical in her views though she was certainly the most prolific and successful with her books The Professor (initially rejected) Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette. 

 

Jane Eyre was published in September 1848 to great critical acclaim and commercial success, A gothic love story told in the first person from the female perspective it was considered amoral by some and fuelled the speculation that its author Currer Bell was in fact a woman. 

 

Charlotte had almost completed the manuscript of her second novel Shirley when the tragedy of losing her brother and two sisters in just eight months struck her hard. As the as the older sister the responsibility weighed heavily upon her, and she only began writing again she said to distract her. It was not the first time that a Bronte had escaped the harsh realities of life by escaping into a world of make-believe. 

 

As the reputation of Jane Eyre as an amoral and improper book grew so did its sales and she was to become a publishing sensation soon mixing in the best London literary circles. William Makepiece Thackeray’s daughter recorded a visit she made to the family home: 

 

 

Thackeray later left to go to his club and one of the guests, Mrs Procter, was to describe it as the dullest night she ever spent in her life. 

 

Despite her evident lack of social sparkle Charlotte remained the author of the moment and enjoyed the attention though she was to be an infrequent visitor to London. 

 

In June 1854 she married her father’s Curate Arthur Bell Nicholls. She was the only one of the Bronte sisters to marry but it was to be short-lived. Soon pregnant she died not long after giving birth on 31 March 1855, aged 38. The reasons for her death remain uncertain and it may have been the result of complications arising from her pregnancy, typhoid fever or like her siblings she may have contracted tuberculosis. 

 

The Reverend Bronte had outlived all his children and he greeted their deaths with the equanimity that might be expected from a man of God. He had played a pivotal role in their development and despite being of stern manner had encouraged them in their creativity and an avid reader himself had permitted them to read the many magazines and journals he subscribed to including Blackwood’s Magazine and the Quarterly Review. 

 

A well-respected man within his community who helped provide the village with clean drinking water and a school for the children of poor families he died in his sleep aged 82 on 7 June 1861.