Patrick Brontë

Patrick Brontë (born March 17, 1777 in Drumballyroney, Ireland , † June 7, 1861 in Haworth , Yorkshire ) was a clergyman , author and father of Charlotte Brontë , Branwell Brontë , Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë .

Patrick Brontë, 1860

Childhood and youth

Patrick Brontë was the first child of Hugh and Elinor Brunty to be born in Drumballyroney, about 25 miles south of Belfast . The family belonged to the Protestant minority of Northern Ireland . As a child he attended village school and received additional lessons in Latin and ancient Greek from the village pastor Thomas Tighe, a Cambridge graduate.

Education

In 1802, 25-year-old Patrick began his studies at St. John's College , Cambridge . He changed the spelling of his family name from Brunty to Brontë. The reason was his admiration for Admiral Nelson, who was symbolically appointed Duke of Bronte by the Sicilian King Ferdinand in 1799. Bronte is a small place on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. Brontë received a scholarship , but made a living as a tutor and through awards for academic achievements. In 1806 he graduated and began a job as a vicar in Wethersfield, Essex in August for a salary of £ 60 a year. Temporary employment as an assistant pastor followed in Wellington and Dewsbury , until Brontë finally got a permanent vicariate in Hartshead-cum-Clifton in March 1811. While there, he took exams in ancient subjects at nearby Woodhouse Grove College. It was here that Brontë met Maria Branwell from Cornwall in the summer of 1812 .

family

Unlike Brontë, Maria Branwell grew up in a well-to-do merchant family in Cornwall. When Brontë vigorously courted the daughter from a good family in the summer of 1812, Maria was already 29 years old and largely independent due to the death of her parents in 1808 and 1809. "For years I have been my own mistress, not subject to any kind of supervision," wrote Maria in one of her numerous letters to Brontë after he proposed to her. Eventually the couple married on December 29, 1812 in Guiseley Church, near Leeds . In early 1813, the couple moved into Clough House in the village of Hightown, one and a half kilometers from Brontës parish church.

In addition to the duties and responsibilities of a vicar and his wife, the newlyweds devoted themselves to writing. Brontë had already published his "Cottage Poems" before the wedding. His second collection of poems "A rural Minstrel" appeared in September 1813.

After the birth of their two eldest daughters, Maria and Elisabeth, the young family moved to Thornton , a few kilometers from Bradford, where Brontë was employed as an auxiliary chaplain. In the rectory of Thornton, the famous Brontë siblings were born in quick succession : Charlotte on April 21, 1816, Patrick Branwell on June 26, 1817, Emiliy Jane on July 30, 1818 and Anne on January 17, 1820.

Haworth

Shortly after Anne was born, a pastor's position in the nearby town of Haworth became vacant. Brontë took this opportunity to take over a larger parish, especially since the rectory in Haworth offered more space and he was guaranteed an annual income of £ 170.

Soon after moving to Haworth, Maria Branwell fell seriously ill. After she was unable to get out of bed in January 1821, she succumbed to uterine cancer on September 15, 1821 at the age of 38 .

Brontë always employed at least one domestic worker to cope with the household and the upbringing of the children. In addition, he was supported by his sister-in-law Elizabeth Branwell, who, together with long-time servant Tabitha Aykroyd, became important reference persons for the Brontë siblings.

Raising children

Brontë initially taught his children himself. He often used newspaper and magazine articles to introduce his children to history, literature, art, geography and science. As a progressive father, he encouraged his daughters as well as his only son Branwell and placed great emphasis on a comprehensive education for his children. The unsystematic form of teaching trained the curiosity and imagination of the children, but in Brontë's opinion it could not replace a proper school education in the long term. Between 1823 and 1824, his four eldest daughters attended Crofton Hall School and then Cowan Bridge, a school for clerical daughters.

After the death of eleven-year-old Maria in February 1825 and ten-year-old Elisabeth in May of the same year, he took over the education of his children again. His lessons included reading contemporary literature as well as translating Latin and Greek classics as well as reading newspapers and magazines subsequent debates on current and social events. In addition to his own lessons, he hired a music teacher in 1826 and a drawing teacher for his children in 1828.

During the next four years the Brontë siblings created a rich fantasy world. Tiny books, reports and papers were created in which this world was described and lived.

Although Brontë was of the general opinion that girls should participate equally in education, his only son held a privileged position within the family. So he basically ruled out systematic schooling for his son and was also skeptical about going to university because Branwell would "not be able to take care of himself financially in the next four or five years".

The Brontë siblings

Brontë's expectations of his only son Branwell were very high: at the request of his father, he should embark on an artistic career as a painter or writer . For his daughters, he envisaged employment as a governess or assistant teacher. However, Branwell did not succeed in establishing himself as a portrait painter, his literary attempts remained unfinished. After he failed in other professions (see main article Branwell Brontë ), Branwell's always existing psychological instability led to an increasing addiction to drink . Patrick sought medical assistance from a doctor, but the health consequences were too advanced. Branwell died on September 24, 1848 at the age of 31.

During this time, the sisters published their novels under the pseudonyms Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily) and Acton (Anne) Bell - first published by Charlotte's Jane Eyre in October 1847, Emily's Sturmhöhe in December 1847 and Annes Agnes Gray, and finally in June 1848 her novel The Lady of Wildfell Hall . Brontë was privy to the success of the three daughters as more and more mail from publishers to Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell went to the parish. In January 1848, Charlotte told her father about her novel Jane Eyre after she overheard Brontë trying to make it clear to the postman that no one named Currer Bell lived in the rectory.

Shortly after Branwell's death, two of the sisters also died: Emily died on December 19, 1848 in Haworth, Anne on May 28, 1849 in Scarborough . Charlotte published her novel Shirley in October 1849 and Villette in January 1853 . Less than a year after her marriage to clergyman Arthur Bell Nichols, Charlotte died on March 31, 1855.

Brontë died on June 7, 1861 at the age of 84; he had survived all of his children. Haworth Congregation commemorated its longtime pastor with a great funeral procession through the town.

Act

Brontë's poetry collections Cottage Poems and A Rural Minstrel are about everyday life and nature. His short story "The Cottage in the Wood" was published in 1815 in Evangelican Magazine . In 1818 Brontë published his novella The Man of Killarney .

In later years Brontë wrote letters to local newspapers and magistrates in his tireless efforts to improve living conditions for the poor. In particular, the poor laws of 1834 as well as the implementation of the death penalty and the practice of slavery were in his criticism.

Brontë was pastor of the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Haworth for over 40 years and made a major contribution to the fact that the church became not only the spiritual but also the social center of the village. At his Sunday School, founded in 1834, Branwell, Charlotte, and Anne taught the children of the parishioners.

After Charlotte's death, he commissioned the writer Elizabeth Gaskell to write Charlotte's biography, which appeared in 1857. He and his son-in-law also worried about the estate of his children. Charlotte's novel The Professor was published two years after her death in 1857.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sally Schreiber, Die Geschwister Bronte , dtv portrait 1998, p. 14
2. ^ The Brontes in Haworth , Ann Dinsdale, Gerstenberg 2006, p. 39
3. ↑ Sally Schreiber, Die Geschwister Brontë , dtv portrait, p. 118

literature

• Edward Chitham: Emily Brontë , Steidl Verlag 1990
• Sally Schreiber: The Brontë siblings, dtv portrait 1998
• Ann Dinsdale: The Brontës in Haworth , Gerstenberg 2007
• Werner Waldmann: The Brontë sisters , Rowohlt 1990

Web links

• http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/brontes/patrick/patrick.asp
• http://www.readbookonline.net/books/Bronte/819/