Christmas holidays of the year 1842

The death of Miss Branwell had brought Charlotte and Emily home from Brussels; and Anne, from her situation, was present on the sad occasion. When the Christmas holidays came round, the sisters were all at home again. Branwell was with them; which was always a pleasure at that time, and Charlotte's friend, 'E,' came to see her. Having overcome the first pang of grief on the death of their aunt, they enjoyed their Christmas very much together. Branwell was cheerful and even merry; and in Charlotte's next letter, written in a happy mood to her friend, who had just left them, he sent a playful message. 'Branwell wants to know,' says Charlotte, 'why you carefully excluded all mention of him, when you particularly send your regards to every other member of the family. He desires to know in what he has offended you? Or whether it is considered improper for a young lady to mention the gentlemen of a house?' [4] While they were together, plans for the future were talked over with eagerness and hope. Charlotte had accepted the proposal of Monsieur Héger that she should return to Brussels for another year, when she would have completed her knowledge of French and be fully qualified to commence a school on a footing which was yet impossible. Emily was to remain at home now to attend to her father's house, and Anne was to return to her situation as governess.

Branwell also found occupation as tutor in the same family where Anne had been for some time employed. He commenced his duties, in his new position, after the Christmas holidays of the year 1842. On his arrival at the house of his employer, he was introduced to the members of the family; and it is not too much to say that his new friends were more than satisfied with his graceful manners, his wit, and the extent of his information. Here Branwell felt himself happy; for, contrary to his expectation, he had found, to his mind, a pleasant pasture, with comparative ease, where he had only looked for the usual drudgery of a tutor's work. His family were contented that he was thus respectably and hopefully employed.  gutenberg

Oxenhope's St Mary the Virgin Church.

Keighley News reports:

An historic Oxenhope church with links to the Brontë family will share in a £550,000 funding payout from the National Churches Trust to 30 churches and chapels in the UK
The funding from the National Churches Trust includes £15,000 for Oxenhope's St Mary the Virgin Church. Custodians of the Grade II listed building, in Hebden Road, will use the cash to help fund urgently-needed repairs to the church tower as part of a £120,000 project. (...)
We'd only asked for £10,000 because we didn't want to appear greedy, but they said they liked what we were doing and that we could have the full £15,000. It is amazing."
Reverend Wright added that the church's exposed location means it often gets a battering from harsh weather sweeping down off the moors. (...)
In 1845, Reverend Patrick Brontë, father of the famous novelist sisters Charlotte, Anne and Emily, appointed the then curate, Reverend Joseph Brett Grant, to take charge of the newly formed ecclesiastical district, now know as Oxenhope village parish.
Reverend Grant began holding services in a nearby wool combing shop. Within a year he had raised enough money to build a day school, which served as a Sunday school and church.
He was a tireless worker who collected money for a purpose-built new church. According to Charlotte Brontë he wore out 14 pairs of shoes in his quest for money.
His efforts were rewarded on February 14 1849 when the foundation stone for St Mary's was laid.
The church was built from millstone grit with stone and natural slate roofs. The square west end tower is 44-feet high and houses two levels of meeting rooms, which were added in 1991

A School Progress Report for the Brontë Sisters

The Journal of Education: A Monthly Record and Review, January 1900.

 

history_of_the_bront_family_school_report

The Ransom Center

 

utexas.edu/tag/charlotte-bronte

 

The Ransom Center has launched a new platform of freely available digitized images of collection materials on its website

Was Branwell Bronte bipolair?

Hathaways of Haworth is working on a post about the authorship of Wuthering Heights and I was pondering the behaviour and tragic decline of Branwell Bronte and it suddenly occurred to me that he may have been bipolar .I probably wouldn’t have considered the possibility of mental health problems within the Bronte family if I hadn’t just finished a post on Emily to address  the question of her possible Asperger’s. did-emily-bronte-have-aspergers-autism
Its seems to me very possible Branwell had or developed a mental health problem that falls within the bipolar spectrum.  Having lived with some one with a bipolar disorder, for years there was something about Branwells behaviour that niggled at some indefinable part of my mind.Then I began reviewing Branwell after  I recently watched someone with bipolar slowly loose their moral compass and behave  in increasingly uncharacteristic ways I saw many echo’s in Branwells final sad decline.
I don’t yet have research to back up this idea and may not pursue it but several aspects of Branwells life suggested the possibility. He was clearly extremely talented in many areas yet he also lacked the ability to maintain any interest for long enough to make a living ,he makes rapid progress then suddenly seems to loose interest or cant concentrate and apply himself .He often make grandiose claims  and plans which he then looses interest in fulfilling. He is affectionate and caring ,yet is sporadically capable of being selfish  cruel and aggressive. He is aware of this  and deeply upset by it but cant control it. Hes normally very gentle and  protective of his sisters and father yet can be suddenly abusive and frightening. He has sleep problems and delusions.He appears to be worse after some emotional upset or after sudden success. He is by turns elated and depressed ,sometimes in rapid succession ,sometimes they changes can last days or weeks. Something I had not realised until recently ,each progressive episode seems to wear away at the suffers normal emotional state producing a gradual suppression of their normal self and an increasing intrusion of manic traits into their everyday lives. Many aspects of his behaviour have been explained as results of abuse of alcohol and  laudanum but there’s no evidence at all that he was using either of these  when he makes his first “mistakes” and despite social drinking doesn’t seem to have lost control of his intake until the very last days of his life .The drug and alcohol abuse could have been a coping mechanism, misunderstood by those around him who would have no idea of his complex mental health problems. Thoughts to ponder by those more well versed on Branwell than myself

Did Emily Bronte have Asperger’s /Autism?

Hathaways of Haworth thinks the answer is a very clear no, based on overwhelming evidence from her day to day interactions .The suggestion is usually put forward by people who have read standard biographies or  accounts by strangers about Emily’s public behaviour. I realise the subjects complex and I am only covering popularly  perceived traits in both those with Asperger’s and those with other forms of Autism .However  its usually these specific traits which are signalled out in Emily to support the theory she had some form of Autism. I think a superficial  examination is however enough to disprove the idea.

The main reason.
Emily is an emotionally  normal child possibly even a overly friendly one whereas Autistic children often present with problems quite quickly  autism

Emily is an affectionate and sweet natured child  with a character open and trusting enough to be able to endear strangers to her quite quickly. Emily was very  clearly an endearing  child and good around strangers while as she gets older her behaviour becomes more eccentric and reclusive ocialy, showing “learned” antisocial traits rather than core character traits. While there isn’t a huge number of accounts of Emilys early childhood, the ones that survive most notably from Cowen Bridge talks about her being seen as "a sweet little thing”. Miss Evans, the superintendent of the new school, called Brontë a “darling child” and “little petted Em” and the admissions register referred to her as “quite the pet nursling of the school.” Who doesn’t seem to have had trouble adapting to a different routine and one that was extremely rigid and in almost all respects different to her home life. Nor at this time does she seem to be having any problems interacting with strangers. Autistic children show problems with change and social interactions quite quickly. The negative responses to change and social environments is progressive but variable. It seems that as she gets older she gets less able to  or willing to adjust.

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