Charlotte Brontë
The oldest Brontë was none other than Charlotte Brontë who was born on April 21st 1816 and out-lived her sister to die in 1855. Like her three younger sisters, Charlotte was a writer and had a number of contributions to the Victorian Era of novels both in conjunction with her sisters, Anne and Emily Jane as well as on her own. From all of her works, Charlotte Brontë was most well known for her novel entitled Jane Eyre.
After the death of the Brontë family’s mother in 1821, Charlotte took over the responsibilities of taking care of her younger siblings while her father worked as a clergyman for the Church of England in Haworth. Three years later, Charlotte and her sisters would be sent to the Clergy Daughters' School which would eventually become part of the setting in her novel Jane Eyre. The school was of poor condition and it was considered that the school itself was the cause of her two younger sister’s deaths although Charlotte was able to overcome this.
Upon leaving the school, the three sisters were to return to Haworth where through a melody of imaginative excursions into the depths of their inner childlike minds, were able to start a compilation of poems which the three wrote together.
By 1833, Charlotte Brontë published her first novel entitled The Green Dwarf in which she used the pen name of Wellesley due to her young age as well as the fact that she was a female novelist in a time controlled by men.
Shortly after writing her jointly written poem book with her three sisters in 1846, two of them would die from tuberculosis in 1848 and 1849. Along with her sisters, 1848 would also bring around the death of one of her brothers as well making this period of time for Charlotte a very trying one. In a matter of one year, Charlotte Brontë went from one of 6 children to one of three.
With a little persuasion, Charlotte soon took the trip to London where she fell into a circle of friends which was composed of many famous Victorian Era writers including the likes of Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriet Martineau and William Thackeray.
It was in 1854 when Charlotte fell in love and got married to Arthur Bell Nicholls. Soon after the marriage, Charlotte would become pregnant but her health would also start a downward spiral leaving her suffering fits, nausea and faintness. Before her child was born, Charlotte too would die from tuberculosis and be buried next to her younger sisters.
Original Authors: Globel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
