Month: September 2024

In this blog we look at the life and works of Anne Brontë and her remarkable family. I try to focus on the positive aspects of their story, but of course we all know that they had more than their fair share of tragedy to deal with too – so in today’s post we look at one of the saddest events of all that happened exactly 203 years ago today.

When Patrick Brontë moved to Yorkshire in 1809 to be assistant curate to Reverend John Buckworth of Dewsbury he could little realise how much his life would change. Three years later he met Penzance born Maria Branwell, who had travelled to Yorkshire from Cornwall, and within months they were married. There then followed a succession of six children at regular intervals, concluding with the birth of Anne Brontë in January 1820.

Three months after Anne’s birth the family moved to a new parish in Haworth, and their future looked bright indeed, but just a year after the move Patrick’s world came crashing down. He recalled the events in a letter sent to his old friend and employer John Buckworth on 27th November 1821:

“I was at Haworth, a stranger in a strange land. It was under these circumstances, after every earthly prop was removed, that I was called on to bear the weight of the greatest load of sorrows that ever pressed upon me. One day, I remember it well; it was a gloomy day, a day of clouds and darkness, three of my little children were taken ill of scarlet fever; and, the day after, the remaining three were in the same condition. Just at that time death seemed to have laid his hand on my dear wife in a manner which threatened her speedy dissolution. She was cold and silent and seemed hardly to notice what was passing around her.

At the earliest opportunity I called in different medical gentlemen to visit the beloved sufferer; but all their skill was in vain … after above seven months of more agonizing pain than I ever saw anyone endure she fell asleep in Jesus, and her soul took its flight to the mansions of glory …

Do you ask how I felt under all these circumstances? I would answer to this, that tender sorrow was my daily portion; that oppressive grief sometimes lay heavy on me and that there were seasons when an affectionate, agonizing something sickened my whole frame … And when my dear wife was dead and buried and gone, and when I missed her at every corner, and when her memory was hourly revived by the innocent yet distressing prattle of my children, I do assure, my dear sir, from what I felt, I was happy at the recollection that to sorrow, not as those without hope, was no sin; that our Lord himself had wept over his departed friend, and that he had promised us grace and strength sufficient for such a day.”

Maria Brontë died on 15th September 1821. It is often said that she died of uterine cancer, but in the 1970s eminent obstetrician and Brontë fan Professor Philip Rhodes said this was unlikely given the facts we knew about Maria’s demise. He instead concluded: “All in all, I would lean to the idea of chronic pelvic sepsis together with increasing anaemia as the probable cause of her death. It is to be remembered that this was before the age of bacteriological knowledge… Gynaecological knowledge was primitive, there was no ante-natal care and no attempt at follow-up after childbirth.”

It seems likely then, in a further tragic twist, that it was the aftermath of the birth of Anne Brontë that led to the death of her mother when Anne was just one year old (The header image of this post shows portraits of Maria and her daughter Anne.) This was a dark time for Patrick and his children, but Maria’s sister Elizabeth travelled from Cornwall to Haworth never to return to Penzance again. For over twenty years she was an unflinching comfort to Patrick, a financial support (she was undoubtedly one of the people who cleared the debts Patrick had amassed when seeking medical help for his wife), and almost a second mother to the Brontë children – particularly to baby Anne. In that same letter to Reverend Buckworth, Patrick explained:

“Her sister, Miss Branwell, arrived, and afforded great comfort to my mind, which has been the case ever since, by sharing my labours and sorrows, and behaving as an affectionate mother to my children.”

A tragic milestone in the Brontë story, but Maria’s legacy of love, and the selfless and steadfast support of her sister Elizabeth Branwell, is still remembered today. I hope to see you next week for another new Brontë blog post.

There are at least four known portraits of Anne Brontë. Three by Charlotte Brontë, and Anne also features on the far left of Branwell Brontë’s youthful portrait of his sisters. There is also a beautiful painting by Branwell which many consider to be of Emily, although I believe the evidence points to it being of Anne. In today’s post, however, we’re also going to consider whether there could be other portraits of Anne hiding in plain sight.

First we’ll begin with the known portraits of Anne – Branwell’s ‘pillar portrait’ (so called because he painted himself, or possibly his father, out behind a pillar) features at the head of this post. We now show Charlotte’s three portraits of Anne, finishing with a rather beautiful picture of her youngest sister beneath which Patrick Brontë has written, “Anne Brontë by my daughter Charlotte”:

So we see that Charlotte made at least three portraits of her youngest sister Anne, but we have no extant portraits by her of Branwell or Emily Brontë. Why should this be? I think the most likely explanation is that from a young age Anne was very patient and obliging – if asked to sit still for a portrait she would do so, whereas Emily and Branwell were less likely to be compliant. As Anne herself said, in her preface to the second edition of The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall, “I love to give innocent pleasure.”

Did Charlotte limit herself to just these three paintings of Anne, or could there be more? I believe that the following two compositions by Charlotte deserve close examination: from 1833 and 1834 respectively, so around the same time as Charlotte’s verified picture of Anne above, they seem to me to have at least a passing resemblance when it comes to the sitter.

And then we turn to Emily’s portraits. Emily was a very accomplished artist, perhaps the finest of all the Brontës (in fairness Emily excelled at all she turned her hand to). We have many beautiful portraits by Emily of animals and nature, but did she forego to paint a portrait of the sister she loved dearly – the sister with whom Ellen Nussey said Emily shared a twin-like existence? Or could Anne have provided an inspiration for Emily’s 1841 portrait of ‘Woman’s Head With A Tiara?’

Let’s turn again to Ellen Nussey’s description of Anne from around this time: “Anne – dear, gentle Anne – was quite different in appearance from the others. She was her aunt’s favorite. Her hair was a very pretty, light brown, and fell on her neck in graceful curls.”

Do we get a glimpse of that appearance in the three images above? I believe so, and I believe that, even if they were completed as part of the sisters’ artistic studies, Anne Brontë was the likely model for them.

I hope you can join me next Sunday for another new Brontë blog post where we’ll paint another picture in the lives of our favourite writing sisters.

I’ve been visiting London again this week, and as always I stayed in Bankside on the south shore of the River Thames. It’s a great location, walked by the likes of Shakespeare, Dickens, Chaucer and many others – and across the Thames via the Millennium Bridge lies the majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

It’s been a breathtaking sight for over four centuries now, and whilst I stay across the river from it, the Brontë sisters stayed in the very shadow of St. Paul’s, as I hope to show in today’s post. The London location favoured by the Brontës was the Chapter Coffee House.

By the time the Brontës stayed in the coffee house (which also served as a guest house) it already had a fine literary reputation as it had served as a late eighteenth century meeting point for writers like Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson and Thomas Chatterton. There’s a more likely reason why it became the London residence of the Brontës however: its proximity to St. Paul’s.

The streets around this area show its ecclesiastical influence, with names such as Amen Corner and Ave Maria Lane. It is likely that the Chapter Coffee House was in extensive use by members of the clergy visiting St. Paul’s and that this was how it came to the attention of Reverend Patrick Brontë. Patrick visited it in 1842, with his daughters Charlotte and Emily Brontë, a year before this picture of the house was made:

At this time Patrick was accompanying his daughters en route to them entering school in Brussels. He helpfully drew a map of the area, and marked the location of the Chapter Coffee House upon it:

Charlotte returned to London in 1848, and this time it was her youngest sister Anne Brontë with her. They had journeyed to the capital in some haste after receiving a letter implying that the Bell brothers (Currer, Ellis and Acton) were one and the same person. So rapidly did they travel that they had given no thought to where they might stay when they arrived in London in the early hours of a Saturday morning. Charlotte later recalled how they ordered a horse drawn cab to take them and their luggage to the Chapter Coffee House simply because it was the only place in London she knew.

But just where is, or was, the Chapter Coffee House? It’s not there now, but the area around St. Paul’s was badly damaged during the Ritz and I believe that the Chapter Coffee House burned down during the war. I also believe that we can still see where the house once stood, and explain why in this video I made:

A transcript of the video follows here: “I’m here in St Paul’s Churchyard in search of the location of the Chapter Coffee House. The Chapter Coffee House was destroyed by fire during World War II. It’s here that Charlotte and Anne Brontë stayed in London in 1848 in a few days that changed literary history forever. So behind me is St Paul’s Cathedral and in this direction is Ave Maria Lane. Behind me is St Paul’s Alley. These were all marked on Patrick Brontë’s map and behind me through there is Paternoster Row where the Chapter Coffee House was.

Now this gap behind me was caused by the destruction during the blitz of World War II. I believe this is the very spot where the Chapter Coffee House stood and where Charlotte and Anne Brontë stayed. And now right next to it we have a coffee house, Paul’s Coffee House. I believe this is the Brontë’s home in London.”

After posting this on my Twitter account (where I tweet daily about the Brontes) I received some validation from the staff of St. Paul’s Cathedral itself:

When we walk in the shadow of St. Paul’s we walk in the footsteps of Charlotte, Emily and ANne Brontë, and I recommend it to anyone who visits London. I’m back in Yorkshire now, and hope you can join me next Sunday for another new Brontë blog post.