A Payment For ‘Caroline’ Bronte

On this day in 1849 Charlotte Brontë contacted her publishers after receiving the initial payment for her second published novel Shirley. In today’s post we’ll look at just how much she was paid, and at an unfortunate error made on the cheque, or bank bills as they were called then, itself.

We know that Charlotte originally received payment on 14th September 1849, as she wrote this effusive letter to publisher George Smith on receipt of the bank bill:

It was over a week later, however, that Charlotte realised that all was not as it should be with the bank bill, as we say in her letter to Smith of 22nd September 1849:

“I return the Bank-Bill, endorsed as you direct.t My Christian name is Charlotte – not Caroline – and it is my only Christian name.

It seems to me that I cannot do better than leave the business in your hands which I do in entire confidence that you will make the best arrangement you can for me. If you would receive the dividends at the Bank, it would of course be to me a great additional convenience.

Should my Railway Shares again rise to par. (which is more than doubtful) I would sell out, and should then be enabled to place a few hundreds more in the Funds – but on this – I must not calculate.

The thought of laying a foundation for a future independency gives me a certain pleasure, and to my father it gives very great pleasure, but you will understand me when I say that I hope never to allow it to become more than a very subordinate motive for writing: I will not permit it to hurry my pen: if I did both you and the Public would soon tire of me, and certainly I should cease to respect myself.

You shall be spared thanks since you do not like them, but believe me, Yours Very Sincerely, C Brontë

Perhaps you will be kind enough to notify the safe arrival of the Bank-Bill. It has just struck me that perhaps I have done wrong to write Charlotte Bronté on the back while Caroline Bronté is written on the face – will it make any difference?”

Perhaps Smith had Charlotte’s novel on his mind when he wrote out the bank bill to his star author, for whilst Shirley Keeldar is the eponymous heroine it is her friend Caroline Helstone who truly dominates the novel? The error must have been corrected, for we know that Smith did invest the money for Charlotte as she recorded: “£500 the price of the copyright of ‘Shirley’ invested in the Funds Oct 1849”. A letter entry by Charlotte records: “£521 17s 6d. The proceeds of the sale of Railway Shares – invested January 1853.” We see then that this investment on the railways led to a profit, whereas we know that an earlier investment made by Emily Brontë fell foul to the collapse of railway shares linked to George Hudson, the infamous ‘Railway King.’

Charlotte pronounced herself ‘rather proud of its amount’ upon receiving her bank bill, and she had received the same amount on the sale of Jane Eyre to Smith, Elder two years earlier. On top of this Charlotte’s books sold well in her lifetime, and she received frequent and sizeable royalty payments.

Just how much was this £500 worth? If we take it on purely inflationary terms, using RPI, then the Measuring Worth website says £500 in 1849 would be worth £65,510 today. However it also explains that this doesn’t show the true value of the money, as money simply went much further in those days when there were no outgoings such as car and fuel bills and the holiday and leisure costs which are so common today. If we also take into account average earnings at this time, then Measuring Worth says that £500 then was actually the equivalent of between £496,800 and £729,100. Not a bad return, but richly deserved for an author of Charlotte’s genius. Alas, the tragic death of her sisters in 1848 and 1849 meant that Emily and Anne never saw the rewards that their work deserved, although Charlotte herself did eventually receive royalties from their novels too.

Under the circumstances, Charlotte was wise not to be too concerned that her publisher had taken to calling her Caroline Brontë! As you know, I don’t monetise this blog in any way, it’s purely a labour of love – so I will never need to worry how much my zero pounds today will be worth in 175 years time! I hope to see you again next week for another new Brontë blog post.