Charlotte Bronte was Born - 1816

On this date in English literary history – April 21, 1816, Charlotte Bronte was born. She was one of six siblings who grew up in a gloomy parsonage in the remote English village of Hawthorne, surrounded by the marshy moors of Yorkshire. Her mother died when she was five, and Charlotte, her two older sisters, and her younger sister Emily, were sent to Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. The cheap school featured unpalatable food, cold halls, and harsh discipline. Charlotte's two older sisters died of illness while at school, and the grim institution found its way into her masterpiece Jane Eyre (1847).

After their sisters’ deaths, Charlotte and Emily were brought home, where they and their remaining siblings, Anne and Branwell, amused themselves by making up elaborate stories about fantastical worlds. When the girls grew older, they all took governess positions in private homes, and from 1835 to 1838 Charlotte taught in a girls' school. Meanwhile, she and Emily formed a plan to open their own school, and in 1842 the sisters went to Brussels to study languages and school administration. In Brussels, Charlotte fell in love with the married headmaster, an experience she used as the basis for her last novel, Villette (1853). Returning to the parsonage at Hawthorne, the sisters attempted to set up their own school but could not attract pupils. Meanwhile, their adored brother Branwell had become a heavy drinker and opium user. When Emily got him a job teaching with her at a wealthy manor, he lost both their positions after a tryst with the mother of the house. 

In 1846, Charlotte accidentally found some poems written by Emily, it turned out all three sisters had secretly been writing verse. They published their own book, Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, adopting a pseudonym because they believed women writers were judged too softly. Only two copies sold, but publishers became interested in the sisters' work. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was published in 1847 under the name Currer Bell. Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey were published later that year. Sadly, all three of Charlotte's siblings died within the next two years. Left alone, Charlotte cared for her ill father and married Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1854. Charlotte died during childbirth shortly after the marriage.

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that include Literary Legends of the British Isles: The Lives & Burial Places of 50 Great Writers. For more information about the author visit his website www.michaelthomasbarry.com

The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Legends-British-Isles-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398092633&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Novelist Anne Bronte was Born - 1820

On January 17, 1820, Anne Bronte, the youngest of the six Bronte children was born in Yorkshire, England. Their mother died when Anne was still an infant, and the children were left largely to their own devices in the bleak parsonage in Haworth, a remote village in Yorkshire, where their father was a clergyman. Anne's four older sisters all went to boarding school, but the two eldest died, and Emily and Charlotte returned home. The girls, along with their brother Branwell, read voraciously and created their own elaborate stories about mythical lands. Anne Bronte was educated at home and worked as a governess from 1841 to 1845, during which time Emily and Charlotte went to Brussels to study school administration with the hopes of opening a school in Haworth. The school idea failed, but another project took its place: poetry. In 1845, Charlotte came across some poems Emily had written, and the three sisters discovered they had all been secretly writing verse. They self-published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell in 1846. Although the book sold only two copies, the sisters continued writing. Charlotte's Jane Eyre appeared in 1847, an instant success. Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey were printed later that year. Anne's next novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), explored the effects of a young man's unchecked debauchery. Anne died of tuberculosis in 1849, at the age of 29. 

 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that include Literary Legends of the British Isles: The Lives and Burial Places of 50 Great Writers. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links – 

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Legends-British-Isles-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389981946&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry 

Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Britains-Literary-Legends-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389981990&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Novelist Anne Bronte died - 1849

English novelist and poet Anne Brontë was died on May 28, 1849 in Scarborough, England. She was the youngest member of the famous Brontë literary family. The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë was born on January 17, 1820 in Thornton, England and lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of 19 she left Haworth and worked as a governess between 1839 and 1845. After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846) and two novels Agnes Grey (1847), based upon her experiences as a governess and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), which is considered to be one of the first feminist novels. Anne's life was cut short when she died of tuberculosis on May 28, 1849 at the age of 29 in Scarborough, England. Mainly because the re-publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was prevented by her sister Charlotte after Anne's death, she is less well-known than her other siblings. However Anne’s novels, like those of her sisters, have become classics of English literature.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Great-Britains-Literary-Legends-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369760545&sr=8-2&keywords=michael+thomas++barry

Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Britains-Literary-Legends-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369760613&sr=8-2&keywords=michael+thomas+barry