 |
 |
Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous
Who was Emily Bronte? Novelist and Poet.
Date and Place of Birth: 30th July 1818, The Vicarage, Thornton, Yorkshire, England.
Family Background: Daughter of a Cleric, Patrick Bronte and sister to Branwell, Charlotte and Anne Bronte.
Education: Clergy Daughter's School, Cowan Bridge. Miss Wooler's School, Roe Head and at home at Haworth.
Chronology:
1820: (March 25th ) Anne Baptised in the "Old Bell Chapel" at Thornton. (April) Bronte family move to Parsonage at Haworth.
1821: (September 15th) Death of her mother.
1825: (May 6th) Death of her sisters Maria (aged 11) and (June 15th) Elizabeth (aged 10) from consumption.
1826: (June) Mr Bronte gives Branwell some model soldiers which help the girls form there own fantasy world of little people.
1829: All the Bronte children receive art lessons from John Bradley of Keighley.
1831: Emily and Anne develop the fantasy world of Gondal.
1834: (November 24th) The earliest surviving Gondal manuscript is written describing Caaldine.
1835: Sent home permanently from school after feeling unwell and emaciated.
1836: (July 12th) Writing of the earliest dated poem.
1837: Goes to Halifax, Yorkshire to teach at Law Hill School for a short period.
1839: She abandons her post at Law Hill which Charlotte describes as "hard labour from six in the morning to eleven at night."
1842: (February) Goes to Brussels with Emily to study at the Pensionat Heger. (November) Death of her Aunt Elizabeth and they return home.
1843: Remains at home alone with her father and begins a period of major creativity.
1844: Divides her Gondal work from her non-Gondal work in two separate notebooks. Tries to open a school in Haworth with Charlotte but there are no takers for such an isolated spot.
1845: Branwell suggests to his sisters that novel writing is a profitable business. (October) Charlotte stumbles across her poems much to her annoyance but convinces her that they should publish some poems together.
1846: (May) "Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell" (The sister's pseudonyms) published with the family paying the costs. (July) "Wuthering Heights" is finished and is sent to several publishers along with Anne's "Agnes Grey" and Charlotte's "The Professor".
1847: The publisher Thomas Cautley Newby accepts "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" but not The Professor". (December) Delays publishing until Charlotte's "Jane Eyre" arouses interest in the "Bells".
1848: The literary world, including their publisher, think that the three "Bells" are in fact the same author. Anne publishes the "Tenant of Wildfell Hall". Emily withdraws from life. (24th September) Death of brother Branwell from Consumption. (October 1st) Emily leaves the Parsonage for the last time to attend Branwell's funeral and catches a severe cold which becomes an inflammation of the lungs.
(1850): "Wuthering Heights" is re-issued with some of Emily's poems and an introduction by Charlotte.
(1893): The Bronte Society Established.
Written Works:
- 1846: “Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell”.
- 1845-6: “Wuthering Heights”.
- (1941): "The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Bronte".
Marriage: Never Married.
Places of Interest:
YORKSHIRE:
Brontë Parsonage Museum
Haworth, Keighley
West Yorkshire BD22 8DR.
www.bronte.info/Date and Place of Death: 19th December 1848, Haworth, Yorkshire, England, of consumption.
Age at Death: 29.
Site of Grave: St. Michael and All Angels Church, Haworth, Yorkshire, England.
