Charlotte Brontė was the oldest and the last surviving of the
three writing sisters. She was the daughter of Patrick Brontė,
a clergyman who became perpetual curate in Haworth in 1820.
Her pen name was Currer Bell.
Charlotte was educated
at Roe Head in Mirfield, where she met Ellen Nussey, who became
her lifelong friend. Between 1835 and 1838 she worked as a teacher
at Roe Head. From 1839 to 1841 she held positions as a governess
in Yorkshire.
In 1842 she went to Brussels with Emily
where she attended the boarding school that was run by Constantin
Héger (1809-1896) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent-Héger. They
wanted to improve their language skills to be able to start
their own school and Charlotte taught English in return. When
their aunt Elizabeth died in 1842 the girls had to return home.
In 1843 Charlotte returned to Brussels alone to become a teacher
at the school but she was homesick and developed a hopeless
love for Héger. In 1844 she returned to Haworth.
In
1846 the three sisters Anne, Emily and Charlotte published a
volume of poetry. Although hardly any copies were sold, they
decided to draft novels for publication. Charlotte's "The Professor"
was not accepted by any publisher it was sent to, but they showed
interest in further novels. She wrote "Jane Eyre", and this
book was accepted and published in 1847. It was a dramatic story
about a governess who fell in love with her employer and contained
autobiographical elements.
She started working on another
novel, "Shirley", but she interrupted her writing when Emily
died in 1848 and Anne died in 1849. She and Ellen Nussey had
travelled to Scarborough with the terribly ill Anne for better
air and because Anne had fond memories of Scarborough. Anne
died a fews days after their arrival and they buried her there.
She finished Shirley and it was published in October 1849.
She
revealed her identity to her publisher and made friends with
Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Martineau. She also met Thackeray
and G.H. Lewes. Everbody was curious about this mysterious author,
but it turned out she was quiet and shy. In Manchester she even
hid behind the curtains of Elizabeth Gaskell when Elizabeth
received another visitor during one of Charlotte's three visits.
In
1853 "Vilette" was published. Her father's curate Arthur Bell
Nichols had proposed to her, but she had turned him down. Elizabeth
Gaskell advised her to marry him. Charlotte warmed towards Nichols
and accepted him after all. Her father overcame his initial
hesitation as well and they were married in June 1854. Although
she appeared as a witness, it seems Ellen Nussey was disappointed
about the marriage. This has led to speculation in later years
that she and Charlotte might have been lovers but there is no
evidence for this and probably Ellen had expected that they
both would remain spinsters and feared that Charlotte would
have less time for her.
After her wedding Charlotte
became pregnant but she also suffered from health problems.
On 31 March 1855 she died with her unborn child. Her official
cause of death was tuberculosis, but she might have died from
typhus, the cause of death of the Brontė's servant Tabitha Ackroyd
who died shortly before her. Charlotte was buried at the church
in Haworth next to the parsonage.
In 1857 her first
novel "The Professor" was published posthumously. During the
same year Elizabeth Gaskell published "The Life of Charlotte
Brontė". Patrick Brontė had asked her to write his daughter's
biography and she focused more on private details than on Charlotte's
authorship. But she kept silent about Charlotte's love for Héger.
In 1913 The Times published several letters she had
sent to Héger that made it clear that she had been in love with
him. It is assumed that Héger had tore them up buth his wife
had saved them from the dustbin and sewn them carefully together.
In later years, his son bequeathed them to the British Museum
and Charlotte's love for Héger finally became public knowledge.
Related persons
• is brother/sister of Brontė, Anne
• is brother/sister of Brontė, Emily
• was written about by Gaskell, Elizabeth
• met Lewes, George Henry
• met Martineau, Harriet
• met Thackeray, William Makepeace
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