Haworth Church and Parsonage by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Brontë Family: A Brief History

The Brontës were a family that resided in Haworth, Yorkshire, England in the early to mid 1800's, and was a family full of literary genius. The most famous of the family were the 'Brontë sisters' i.e. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne-all of whom wrote and published a selection of poetry and  novels. Their works are still much loved even in our society, and there have  been many adaptations created based on them. The rest of the family included the  father, Patrick, who was the incumbent at Haworth and who was a writer  himself, writing about certain situations that he encountered, especially in  interest for the surrounding poor. He outlived every single member of his  family, dying in 1861, six years after his daughter, Charlotte, died. Their mother, Maria Brontë (née Branwell), was from Penzance, and was taken  with Patrick almost from the beginning. After they married in 1812, they  succeeded in having 6 children from 1814 to 1820. In 1821 Maria died from more  than likely ovarian cancer. Her sister, Elizabeth Branwell, came to stay at the Parsonage in the last  months of Maria'a life to help care for her and the children. 'Aunt Branwell' as  she was always referred to, had always intended to return to Penzance, but she  stayed until her death in 1842, caring for the children and managing the house. Patrick, after his wife's death, although teaching the children some, mainly stayed in his study becoming somewhat reclusive. This by no means backs up themyth of his being a harsh and unjust man. On the contrary, research suggests that he was a very kind-hearted loving man and father. In 1825, after being sent  to Bridge school, Maria and Elizabeth, the two eldest sisters, returned home to die within  a month of one another. The conditions of the school seemed to have been the culprit, so Charlotte and Emily were removed as well. Over the next six years the four remaining children, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne, stayed home and was taught by their  father and aunt. They spent their spare time in making up stories and reading.  This is where their famous juvenilia came to life such as the worlds of Gondal  and Angaria. Over the next few years the sisters went to school, in England, and  abroad in Brussels for Emily and Charlotte. In the early forties the sisters had  the idea to open up a school for girls in their house. Although the flyer was  made they had no prospects. Then in 1846 Charlotte alights upon a manuscript of  Emily's poems and after much persuasion on Charlotte's part, the three sisters  publish their poems under Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. This only sells two  copies, but it gave them the fever for publication. They all three set out to  write novels. Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey are both accepted  for publication, but Charlotte's The Professor was not. She did not demure  though and set about writing a new novel immediately. It was accepted on the  spot and was even published before her sister's. It's name was Jane Eyre. The  next year Anne published another novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which was  viewed as a scandalous book not to be trusted in the hands of girls. This  however only made it the more desirable to be read. That fall Branwell, falling  sick with alcoholism, opium use, and with depression over his repeated failures,  came down with tuberculosis, died September 24th. Emily having attended his  funeral in the rain, also caught a cold which led to tuberculosis. She refused  to see a doctor, much less talk about her condition. She went about her daily  activities as if nothing was wrong. Finally on December 19th she collapsed and  said, 'If you will send for a doctor, I will see him now'. She never recovered,  and died later that day. If this was not enough to bear for the remaining family members, Anne had also fallen ill and she was showing the tell tell signs of the  disease that her brother and sister had shown. She lasted the spring of 1949,  and in a last effort attempt to strengthen her health, she, Charlotte and Ellen  Nussey travelled to Scarborough to take the sea air. Anne just got worse and she  died a few days after arriving on May 28th. She was buried by the sea, Charlotte  knowing how much she loved it, and because of the impracticality of taking her  back to Haworth. Over the next few years Charlotte was alone at the Parsonage  save her father and a couple of servants. Shirley was published during this time  span. It was written during the deaths of her siblings, and in 1851-1852 she  wrote Villette, which had a comparable success to Jane Eyre. In June of 1854,  after much hesitation on her and her father's parts, she married Arthur Bell  Nichols, a curate of her fathers. She grew to love him though and she had a  happy, but brief married life. In November of that same year, her and Arthur  took a walk to see what is now called the Brontë Falls. On the way back to the  parsonage they got caught in a storm and Charlotte caught cold. She never fully  recovered from this. This sickness coupled with complications arising from her  pregnancy, finally took its toll on her and she passed away on March 31st 1855.  Arthur stayed on at to look after Patrick Brontë, the two having developed if  not love for one another, at least extreme respect and loyalty, relying on one  another in their time of grief. Two years later in 1857, Arthur agrees to the  publication of Charlotte's first novel The Professor, and Charlotte's  biography, written by Elizabeth Gaskell, is published. In 1861 Patrick passed  away at the age of 85. Arthur was with him at his death, and after settling the  household affairs, he moved back to his native Ireland, where he resided until  his death in 1906, aged 87.