If we could jump into our time machine and head back to this day in 1848 we would enter a world of mourning and bereavement inside Haworth Parsonage – death had visited and taken the only son of Haworth’s long standing and much respected curate. Branwell Brontë had carried the weight of expectation on his … Continue reading The Death And Funeral Of Branwell Bronte| Anne Brontë
London is a city which has shaped its country, and shaped the world, for nearly two millennia. There’s so much to see and do there, but whenever I visit I particularly like to follow in the footste…| Anne Brontë
This weekend marks the anniversary of a special event in the Brontë story which we have looked at before in previous years, but it’s such a special event that I had to mark it again in today’s new …| Anne Brontë
This week has seen the 171st anniversary of the completion of Shirley by Charlotte Brontë, the third of her novels to be finished and the second to be published (as her first book The Professor was…| Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë’s work was frequently autobiographical, but we can also turn to another work of fiction for information about her looks, beliefs, and life: ‘Shirley’ by her sister Cha…| Anne Brontë
Emily Brontë was without doubt the finest poet in the Brontë family, even though her sisters Anne and Charlotte, and brother Branwell Brontë, were all capable of producing fine verse of their own. At the heart of her creative powers Emily gave up writing poetry, and it was on this day 1846 that she wrote … Continue reading Emily Bronte’s Final Poems| Anne Brontë
When December arrives most people in England, today and in times gone by, find themselves thinking of Christmas and the joy, laughter and hope that it brings. In December 1842 however, Anne Anne Brontë’s thoughts turned back to a week in September – in fact, to this week in September. Yesterday marked the 183rd anniversary … Continue reading Anne Bronte, Remembering William Weightman| Anne Brontë
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë was completed on 30th August 1849. It may be the most unheralded of all Charlotte’s novels, unfairly I would say, but it’s certainly in my opinion the most personal of n…| Anne Brontë
Everyone of discernment has a favourite Brontë novel. For me it is Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and I also think its companion piece Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë (the two books were published side by si…| Anne Brontë
We’ve looked previously at the possible reasons for the choice of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell as the pen names of the Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and the possible reasons for them de…| Anne Brontë
As you know, we’re in the four year ‘Brontë 200 period’; a time when we can pay tribute to the 200th birthdays of Charlotte Brontë (2016), Branwell Brontë (2017), Emily Brontë (20…| Anne Brontë
When Charlotte and Anne Brontë arrived in London on the morning of 8th July 1848, they had just one thing on their mind: restoring their honour. A day earlier a letter had arrived from Charlotte…| Anne Brontë
Some works of literature have worked their way into the national consciousness and beyond. It’s difficult to imagine a world without Jane Eyre; it’s loved by readers across the globe today just as …| Anne Brontë
On this week in 1847 a new author made their writing debut. Published by Smith, Jones & Co. the book Jane Eyre: An Autobiography marked the first appearance before the public of the mysterious …| Anne Brontë
Whilst Anne and Emily Brontë didn’t live to see the success their huge talents deserved and earned, Charlotte Brontë did encounter the trappings of fame in the final years of her life, including fa…| Anne Brontë
This week was a particularly exciting one for two members of the Brontë household in 1847, for on 4th July of that year Emily and Anne Brontë sent the manuscripts of their first novels to their pub…| Anne Brontë
In the summer of 1848 Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë made a fateful journey to London, determined to prove their innocence after a ruse by rogue publisher Thomas Cautley Newby led to Charlotte’s …| Anne Brontë
Step this way, put your cloche hat or tweed jacket on and follow me back in time 94 years. A rather scandalous, so it is said, book is just hitting the newspaper reviews: Radclyffe Hall’s The Well …| Anne Brontë
The 22nd of March is World Water Day; it sounds like a joke but it’s far from funny. One in three people around the world have no access to a toilet or clean water, and that has an incredible…| Anne Brontë
Haworth has become famous the world over for three sisters who lived, all too briefly, in its parsonage at the summit of its steep hill: the Brontë sisters. At the time the Brontës lived there it w…| Anne Brontë
At church this morning, one week after Easter Sunday, the sermon recounted the well known tale of doubting Thomas. He believed because he had seen, but those of us today and in the past have not seen and yet still have to struggle with that religious hydra: belief and doubt. It was a doubt known to the Brontë siblings, as we can see from two poems in today’s new Brontë blog post.| Anne Brontë
It’s a sunny Sunday so it’s time for another new Brontë blog post, and this could be the last of my Brontë blog posts on this WordPress platform – but we’ll come to that later. For now we’ll look a…| Anne Brontë
The early days of a year are often a time for reflection. This can be a positive exercise, but for many it can lead to sad introspection and a longing for times that have gone. That certainly seeme…| Anne Brontë
Brontë fans and regular readers of this blog will be in no doubt as to Charlotte Brontë’s esteem for Constantin Heger – first her teacher and then her colleague in Brussels he cast a huge shadow on Charlotte’s life and work. There can be no doubt that Charlotte Brontë fell in love with Monsieur Heger nor that this was an unrequited love. The pain and misery this caused Charlotte Brontë was exquisite, yet it led to the creation of the immortal literary protagonists Edward Rochester o...| Anne Brontë
Brontë fans and regular readers of this blog will be in no doubt as to Charlotte Brontë’s esteem for Constantin Heger – first her teacher and then her colleague in Brussels he cast a huge sha…| Anne Brontë
This weekend marked the anniversary of the funeral service and then burial of Anne Brontë in Scarborough. As you probably know, Anne is buried in a graveyard to the side of St. Mary’s church,…| Anne Brontë
In last Sunday’s blog we took a first look at Aunt Branwell, revealing a woman who sacrificed much to step into the void left by her younger sister Maria’s death. Putting self aside she…| Anne Brontë
Aunt Elizabeth Branwell is all too easily overlooked in the Brontë story, and yet she was pivotal to the incredible story of these incredible sisters. On a very human scale she stepped into the breach after her sister Maria’ untimely death and became almost a second mother to the young children in Haworth Parsonage; it was also Elizabeth’s legacy to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë which gave them the financial freedom to pay for their first book to be published. In today’s post we wi...| Anne Brontë
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s also a day we remember another Patrick – for on this day in 1777 in Drumballyroney, County Down (that’s it at the top of this post) a local farmer&#…| Anne Brontë
I know that many people today will be laying out egg hunts in their beautiful gardens, cooking a roast and spending quality time with the people they love – to those I say Happy Easter. There’…| Anne Brontë
We all love Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, and thankfully there are many good, or at least good intentioned, biographies that expand our knowledge of them. There are many others, however, who ha…| Anne Brontë
My latest Brontë blog post is a day earlier than usual, so don’t worry – you haven’t slept in and missed the England football match, Wimbledon tennis or Michael McIntyre’s ‘The Wheel’. I’m wr…| Anne Brontë
This week in 1846 saw a very important moment in the Brontë story, and, indeed, in the story of English literature as a whole. On the 6th of February 1846 three sisters, weary yet undaunted after a…| Anne Brontë
In this extra mid week post I’m going to take a look at a man who played a central part in Anne Brontë’s life: William Weightman. I believe that Weightman was loved by Anne and that he …| Anne Brontë
Apologies to all who missed my Brontë blog post last Sunday, a combination of travelling and technical glitches meant that it somehow vanished into the ether never to return – although as it was about the Brontës’ French connections it may make a return next year on or around the date of Bastille Day.| Anne Brontë
Apologies to all who missed my Brontë blog post last Sunday, a combination of travelling and technical glitches meant that it somehow vanished into the ether never to return – although as it …| Anne Brontë
Summer has finally arrived, so make the most of the sunny weather while you can. Of course, wherever you are, on a patio or beach, it’s always improved if you have a good book to hand. On this day …| Anne Brontë
Many people made a lasting impression on Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë – people such as Ellen Nussey, Mary Taylor, George Smith and Margaret Wooler. This week marks the anniversary of the passin…| Anne Brontë
In last week’s Brontë blog post we took a first look at the Brussels the Brontë sisters, or at least Charlotte and Emily Brontë, knew, and how it looks now. Today, we will take a further look in ou…| Anne Brontë
In search of Anne Brontë and her family| Anne Brontë
As we enter the latter half of July 2017 we can think back to a day 199 years ago, when a Cornish woman and an Irish man were awaiting the birth of their fifth child – Emily Jane Brontë. This…| Anne Brontë
Haworth is a beautiful, magical place at this time of year, but its steep Main Street (known as Kirkgate when the Brontës first arrived there in 1820) can also be treacherous in icy conditions. The…| Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë was one of the greatest novelists of the nineteenth century; her books Agnes Grey and The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall deserve to be ranked alongside those of her sisters Charlotte and Emily Brontë. Poetry was her first creative love however, and in her verse we often get a snapshot into her thoughts and life at the time she was putting quill to paper. We’re going to look at one such poem in today’s post: ‘Night’.| Anne Brontë
At church this morning, one week after Easter Sunday, the sermon recounted the well known tale of doubting Thomas. He believed because he had seen, but those of us today and in the past have not se…| Anne Brontë
Aunt Elizabeth Branwell is all too easily overlooked in the Brontë story, and yet she was pivotal to the incredible story of these incredible sisters. On a very human scale she stepped into the bre…| Anne Brontë
Yesterday was the 208th anniversary of a very special person indeed. They were the third of six children of a couple who had moved to Yorkshire from Ireland and Cornwall. A clergyman’s daughter who…| Anne Brontë
In today’s very special post I bring you amazing news about the Brontë birthplace in Thornton. Whilst Haworth has become synonymous with the Brontë sisters, it is the former parsonage on Mark…| Anne Brontë
This week has marked a joyous anniversary in the Brontë calendar, for it was on this week in 1820 that Anne Brontë was born in Thornton, near Bradford. The sixth and final child of the Brontë famil…| Anne Brontë
I hope your new year has got off to a happy start full of health and wealth. Alas, it was not to be in the Brontë household at the start of 1849 for it was on this very day that Anne Brontë was dia…| Anne Brontë
