Elizabeth Branwell

The daughter of Thomas Branwell and Anne Carne, and elder sister of Maria Brontë, Elizabeth Branwell was born in 1776 in Penzance, Cornwall. When Maria was terminally ill with cancer in 1821, Elizabeth travelled up to Yorkshire and moved into the Parsonage to nurse her dying sister and help run the household. She subsequently spent the rest of her life there raising the Brontë children - to whom she was known as 'Aunt Branwell'. She provided much of the children's education, including needlework and embroidery for the girls. Many years later, Ellen Nussey declared that Anne was her aunt's favourite.

In early Brontë biography, 'Aunt Branwell' was portrayed as a rather stern and austere individual; however, continued study into the Brontës' lives has indicated that she was probably quite the contrary.



This rarely seen portrait (extreme right) was sketched by J. Tonkin in 1799 - when Elizabeth would have been 23 years old - many years before Maria had even met Patrick Brontë.


.