Bronte sisters brother

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Emily Brontë reportedly referred to her brother as *"a burden,"* while Charlotte’s letters to friends describe his *"unreliable nature"* and *"frequent absences."*

To understand the severity of Branwell's condition, consider the historical context. In 1857, Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte was published, causing a sensation across the country.

After the book came out, the parsonage became a popular place for admirers to visit.

She would act out scenes from her "little books" with Anne.

bronte sisters brother

Aunt Branwell provided the money for this trip.

Study Trip to Brussels

Charlotte's and Emily's Journey to Brussels

Today's main road through Haworth

Emily and Charlotte arrived in Brussels in February 1842 with their father. Crucially, he didn’t have the mental resources to counter rejection.

Daphne du Maurier, in her definitive biography, The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, writes: ‘The seeds of Branwell’s destruction lay not just in his doomed love affair, but also his inability to distinguish truth from fiction and reality from fantasy.

She also wrote about the social, health, and economic conditions of the region.

Haworth's Conditions

The many deaths in the Brontë family were not unusual for the area, where people faced death daily. His attempts to find low-paying jobs failed.

Anne Brontë helped him get a job in 1843, but he was dismissed almost three years later.

They enrolled in Monsieur and Madame Héger's boarding school for six months. It's like a Greek tragedy with powerful emotions, similar to the works of John Milton and William Shakespeare. Charlotte was impressed by Nicholls's dignity and deep voice, but she found him rigid and conventional. The Hégers asked them to return to Brussels to teach English (Charlotte) and music (Emily).

Within this world, the adolescent Branwell was king.

Read More: 25 Great Things We Love About Yorkshire

Physically small, he had flaming red hair, was impulsive and quick-witted, and had ‘penchant for showing off in company’, according to the Brontë Society’s biography. Charlotte and Emily were also taken out of the school.

While his artistic potential remains a subject of speculation, his health decline is a stark reminder of the physical and emotional costs of unchecked substance abuse.

For those seeking to understand or address similar struggles, Branwell’s life offers practical takeaways. ‘Branwell's early promise and swaggering enthusiasm was ultimately overshadowed by the talents of his siblings,’ he remarks, ‘but even before then he appears to have lost his boyish optimism and fighting spirit, and I've found it impossible not be saddened by his disillusionment and decline.’

‘As a poet of this landscape and region I recognise Branwell’s creative impulses and inspirations,’ he explains.

However, Patrick's brother had notable descendants, including James Brontë Gatenby, a scientist, and Peter Gatenby, a medical director for the UN.

The Brontës in Popular Culture

Movies

  • Three Sisters of the Moors (1944, American short film): Molly Lamont as Charlotte, Lynne Roberts as Emily, and Heather Angel as Anne.
  • Devotion (1946, American film): Ida Lupino as Emily, Olivia de Havilland as Charlotte, and Nancy Coleman as Anne.
  • Les Sœurs Brontë (1979, French film): Isabelle Adjani as Emily, Marie-France Pisier as Charlotte, Isabelle Huppert as Anne, Patrick Magee as Patrick Brontë, and Pascal Greggory as Branwell Brontë.
  • Emily (2022, British/American film): Emma Mackey as Emily, Alexandra Dowling as Charlotte, and Amelia Gething as Anne.

Objects in Outer Space

  • Asteroid #39427 is named Charlottebrontë.
  • Asteroid #39428 is named Emilybrontë.
  • Asteroid #39429 is named Annebrontë.
  • A 60-kilometer-wide impact crater on the planet Mercury is named Brontë, in honor of the family.

Sport

  • In 2018, a new horse race at York Racecourse was named the Brontë Cup to honor the family.

Images for kids

  • Branwell Brontë, self-portrait, 1840

  • The life of a woman as imagined in the Victorian world around 1840.

  • Governess in a rich English family in the second half of the 19th century

  • Jane Eyre, pleading her case to her aunt, Mrs Reed, before she is sent to hard service at Lowood (second edition of Jane Eyre, 1847)

See also

In Spanish: Familia Brontë para niños

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Branwell scrawled her name, in large Greek letters, at the top of the poem: Lydia Gisborne.

Gisborne, however, was her maiden name.

He added two dots over the 'e' to show that the name has two syllables (Bron-tee). Unlike his sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), Branwell was tutored at home at Haworth Parsonage. But he was also, like his sisters, highly talented. 

A willing scholar with a precocious intellect, Branwell translated Horace to critical acclaim, wrote poetry, played the organ in his father’s church and aspired to being a professional portrait painter.