What happened to......

The diary papers

These diary papers were discovered, still enclosed in the small box, by Charlotte's husband, the Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, in 1895 - many years after the entire Brontë family had died. He sent them to a Brontë biographer¹⁴⁴ with a note which read:

'The four small scraps of Emily and Anne's MSS I found in the small box I send you. They are sad reading, poor girls!'

mick-armitage/anne/diaries

Mr Brontë had died in 1861, at which point the Parsonage contents had been sold off and moved out. Many items had gone with Charlotte's husband Arthur Bell Nicholls to his new home in Ireland; others had been given to friends and servants as keepsakes. The sisters' manuscripts, letters and personal belongings began to appear in salerooms, and many fetched high prices on the American market.

• Arthur Bell Nicholls had taken part of the collection to Ireland with him when the Brontë household was broken up in 1861 and he had guarded it, selling nothing for over thirty years.
• After Mr. Brontë’s death Mr. Nicholls removed it to Ireland.  Being of opinion that the only accurate portrait was that of Emily, he cut this out and destroyed the remainder.  The portrait of Emily was given to Martha Brown, the servant, on one of her visits to Mr. Nicholls, and I have not been able to trace it. There are two portraits of Branwell in existence, both of them in the possession of Mr. Nicholls.  One of them is a medallion by his friend Leyland, the other the silhouette which accompanies this chapter.  They both suggest, mainly on account of the clothing, a man of more mature years than Branwell actually attained to. gutenberg
• Over the years that followed, most of the Brontës’ early poems and stories were first published (under Shorter’s assumed copyright) by either Shorter or Wise, but none of the manuscripts ever saw the inside of the South Kensington Museum. Wise vandalized Nicholls’ collection and sold it, scattering it across the globe. kleurrijkbrontesisters/what-happened-after-death-of-charlotte 
• Under the terms of Bonnell’s will his widow, Helen, retained some eighty items of Brontë memorabilia but the rest of his collection, some 336 items, were despatched in 1929 to the newly acquired Parsonage Museum — 336 items that would be the firm foundation on which other donors of Brontë memorabilia would thereafter have the confidence to build. His bequest included the manuscripts of fifteen of Emily’s poems, her French devoirs, and the desk on which she wrote Wuthering Heights.

Bonnell.pdf

•  There were fifty of Charlotte’s manuscripts, including The Story of Willie Ellin, Angrian poems, and her French devoirs; nine of Anne’s poems and twenty by Branwell, and over a hundred of Charlotte’s letters. There were thirty-four drawings and watercolours; Mr Brontë’s Homer and his Horace, both prizes from St John’s ‘for having always kept in the first class’
•  Martha Brown treasured a large collection of Brontë memorabilia that she was happy to display, but reluctant to sell. On her death however, this collection was divided between her sisters and it gradually dispersed

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It contains numerous  relics of the Bronte family. Altogether there are some three hundred exhibits, and a number of letters and manuscripts written by Charlotte and Branwell Bronte.

• There is a copy and translation of the letter written by M. Heger to Mr. Bronte in  1842 (someone had evidently copied it and given it to Ellen Nussey, as it was purchased at the Nussey Sale),
• and one from Mrs. Gaskell to Martha Brown.
• A specimen of almost every article of dress worn by Charlotte Bronte,  including her boots and house shoes, as well as many relics of other members of the family.
• There is Ellen Nussey's copy of the privately printed book made up of the letters from Charlotte Bronte to her, which Mr. Horsfall Turner compiled,
• and there are also some early editions of the Bronte novels and poems, which have been presented to the Society. In addition are many sketches made by Charlotte, Branwell, and Emily Bronte;
• even the old leather trunks used by the family have a place there, as well as a saddle bag used by old Mr. Bronte.
• Thackeray's statuette. In the footsteps of the Bronte's

1925 The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories, a collection of Charlotte’s juvenilia, published posthumously.
1931-38 The nineteen volumes of The Shakespeare Head Bronte–the most complete edition of the works of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell–published.
1933 Legends of Angria, a collection of Charlotte Bronte’s juvenilia, published posthumously.
1971 Five Novelettes, a collection of Charlotte Bronte’s juvenilia, published posthumously. aupello.blogs

The Dining Room
The books on the shelves are of the period, while those owned by the Brontës themselves are stored securely elsewhere

The Kitchen
After Patrick Brontë's death in 1861, the Parsonage became the home of the Revd. John Wade, who made several alterations to the house, the kitchen being the room most effected by the changes. A back kitchen, where the washing and heavier household work was carried out in the Brontës' time, was demolished to make way for a large kitchen extension, which blocked the mullioned window which had formerly looked out towards the moors. The range was removed, and the old kitchen became a passage way to Wade's new dining room in the large gabled wing, which was also built at this time. Today the kitchen houses displays of furniture and utensils which belonged to the Brontë family, and a kitchen range of the correct period has been added in an attempt to recreate the room's original appearance.

Mr Nicholls Study
Three wallpaper samples were found in Charlotte's writing desk. A fourth sample, held in the New York Public Library, is accompanied by a note, authenticated by Elizabeth Gaskell, which describes it as being a 'Slip of the paper with which Charlotte Brontë papered her future husband's study, before they were married.'

Several relics have been preserved, including this wooden board with the Lord's Prayer painted upon it.

The Servant`s Room
Originally this room was entered by means of an outside stone staircase. The original doorway has been partly uncovered. Also visible is part of a mullioned window which was probably blocked up in the Brontës' time, during alterations to the house.  bronte