Who was Anne Bronte?
Novelist and poet.
Date and Place of Birth:
17th January 1820, The Vicarage, 74 Market Street,
Thornton, Yorkshire, England.
Family Background:
Daughter of a Cleric, Patrick Bronte and sister
to Branwell, Charlotte and Emily
Bronte.
Education:
Miss Wooler's School at Dewsbury Moor.
Chronology/Biography
of Anne Bronte
1820: (March 25th
) Baptised in the "Old Bell Chapel at Thornton. (April) Bronte
family move to Parsonage at Haworth.
Haworth Parsonage, Yorkshire where Anne lived with her family
(© Anthony Blagg)
1821 (May) Elizabeth
Branwell, her aunt and sister to her mother Maria, arrives to care
for her sister who is dying of cancer and look after the children.
(September 15th) Death of her mother, aged 38. She is buried inside
the church at Haworth.
1825: (May 6th)
Death of her sisters Maria (aged 11) and (June 15th) Elizabeth (aged
10) from consumption.
1828: Anne's earliest
surviving drawing is made of a church surrounded by some trees.
1829: All the Bronte
children receive art lessons from John Bradley of Keighley.
1831: Anne and Emily
break away from Charlotte and brother Branwell's world of Angria
and form their own fantasy world of Gondal.
1834: Throughout
the year Anne, Emily and Branwell
have piano lessons from Abraham Sunderland the parish organist.
1836: She is awarded
a good conduct prize at Roe Head School. Anne writes her earliest
surviving poem about the Gondal world during her Christmas holidays,
"Verses by Lady Geralda".
1837: During the
summer holidays Anne and Emily keep
a diary. (November) Suffers a life threatening illness. and is visited
by Moravian Minister James la Trobe. (December) Is forced to leave
the school because of her illness.
1838: Branwell sets
up his own portrait studio in Bradford.
1839: (April) Moves
into Blake Hall, Mirfield to become a governess to the Ingham family.
(May) Branwell returns to Haworth after running into debt in Bradford
(August) William Weightman arrives at Haworth and becomes an assistant
curate to Patrick Bronte. (December) Anne laves her post with the
Inghams as she has had great difficulty controlling the unruly children.
Branwell takes up a post as a tutor to the Postlethwaite family.
1840: Anne has much
contact with William Weightman and falls in love with him. (May
8th) Anne goes as governess to the Robinson family at Thorp Green
Hall, Little Ouseburn, near York. (June) Branwell is dismissed by
the Postlethwaites. (July) Anne accompanies the Robinsons on their
annual holiday to Scarborough. They stay at Wood's Lodgings on St.
Nicholas Cliff in the middle of the bay. A drawing called "What
you Please" is made at this time. (August) Branwell is employed
as a clerk at Sowerby Bridge railway station.
1841: Branwell transferred
to Luddenden Foot as Clerk in charge of the station. (June) Branwell
has some of his poems published in the Halifax Guardian. Charlotte
Emily and Anne discuss plans
of opening their own school. Anne spends five weeks at Scarborough
with the Robinsons.
1842: Anne asks
to leave the employ of the Robinsons as she wants to stay at Haworth
whilst Charlotte and Emily
leave for Brussels though the family beg her to return. (March)
Branwell is dismissed from the railways as one of his staff is caught
"fiddling the books". (July) Anne spends six weeks at
Scarborough with the Robinsons (September) William Weightman dies
of cholera aged 28. (October) Aunt Elizabeth dies of an obstruction
of the bowel, aged 66. (November) Anne returns to Thorp Hall after
the funeral.
1843: Branwell also
goes to Thorp Hall to teach the Robinson's son Edmund. (June) Anne
is given a spaniel by the Robinson girls. (July) spends four weeks
at Scarborough.
1844: (July) Spends
five weeks at Scarborough. Writes a poem "Fluctuations"
whilst there. The sister's plan to open a school at Haworth fails
as they get no takers due to the remoteness of the location.
1845: (May) Arthur
Bell Nicholls arrives in Haworth to take on the post as Curate to
her father. (June) Anne resigns her post at Thorp Hall. (July) Branwell
is dismissed from Thorp Hall for having an affair with Mrs Robinson.
1846: Charlotte
sends manuscripts of the sisters poems to the publisher Aylott and
Jones of London. (May) "Poems
by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell" (The sister's pseudonyms)
published with the family paying the costs. Anne completes
"Agnes Grey".
1847:
"Agnes Grey" and Emily's
"Wuthering Heights" are accepted for publication by Thomas
Cautley Newby in London. Charlotte's "The Professor" is
rejected. Anne begins writing "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
St Michael and All Angels Church, Haworth and a sign showing
the gate
used by the family to access the church from the parsonage
(© Anthony Blagg)
1848: (June ) "The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is published. (24th September) Death
of brother Branwell from consumption. (19th December) Death of sister
Emily from consumption. Anne has
poems published in the Leeds Intelligencer and Fraser's Magazine.
1849: (January)
Anne is examined at Haworth by Doctor Teale and found to have consumption.
(May 25th) Goes with her friend Ellen Nussey and Charlotte
to Scarborough. (May 26th ) Anne goes swimming alone but collapses
later. In the afternoon she drives herself on South Sands in a donkey
cart. (May 27th) Walks along the Spa Bridge with Charlotte
and Ellen but has to sit down exhausted and realises she has not
long to live. Discusses with Charlotte
about returning to Haworth but it is too late.
(1893): The Bronte
Society Established.
Written Works:
- 1846: “Poems
by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell”.
- 1847: “Agnes
Grey” (Acton Bell).
- 1848:
“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”.
Marriage:
Never married.
Date and Place of Death:
28th May 1849, Woods Lodgings, Scarborough, Yorkshire,
England, of consumption.
Age at Death:
29.
Site
of Grave:
St. Mary’s Churchyard, Castle Road, Scarborough,
Yorkshire, England.
Places of Interest:
YORKSHIRE:
Brontë Parsnage Museum
Haworth, Keighley
West Yorkshire BD22 8DR.
www.bronte.info/
York Minster.
Scarborough.
