Emily Brontë was born on 30 July 1818 in the village of Thornton Market Street on the outskirts of Bradford to Maria Branwell and Patrick Bronte. She had three sisters older than her, Maria (4 year old), Elisabeth (3 year old) and Charlotte (2 year old) and one brother Branwell (1 year old).
Maria, mother of Emily Bronte
During this time Patrick was curate at the Old Bell Chapel in Thornton.
Referring to his five years' residence at Thornton, Patrick Bronte wrote in 1835,
" My happiest days were spent there."
From an old diary, published by Prof. Moore Smith in the Bookman, October, 1904,
and written by his
grandmother, who, as Miss Firth, lived near the Brontes at Thornton in her early days, it is evident
that both Mr. and Mrs. Bronte enjoyed themselves in a quiet way, visiting and receiving visits
from the Firth family, who lived at Kipping, and from Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and uncle Fennell.
There were very few houses in Thornton at that time, so that Patrick Bronte would be able to get
round to his parishioners fairly often; he was always a faithful pastoral visitor. Miss Elizabeth
Branwell, Mrs. Bronte's sister, spent several months at the Thornton parsonage in 1815 and 1816,
and as she is constantly referred to in the diary, it is probable that she was responsible for some
of the social intercourse between the Brontes and prominent families in the neighbourhood,
and was able to render help to Mrs. Bronte in the management of her young family.
The Regency era 1811 - 1837
The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. The Regency era ended in 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded William IV.
This era encompassed a time of great social, political, and economic change. War was waged with Napoleon and on other fronts, affecting commerce both at home and internationally as well as politics. Despite the bloodshed and warfare the Regency was also a period of great refinement and cultural achievement, shaping and altering the societal structure of Britain as a whole.
Driving these changes was not only money and rebellious pampered youth, but also significant technological advancements. In 1814 The Times adopted steam printing. By this method it could now print 1,100 sheets every hour, not 200 as before—a fivefold increase in production capability and demand.[4] This development brought about the rise of the wildly popular fashionable novels in which publishers spread the stories, rumours, and flaunting of the rich and aristocratic, not so secretly hinting at the specific identity of these individuals.
What happened in 1818
Year of the birth of Emily Bronte?
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (anonymous).
John Keats' poem Endymion
Jane Austen died 1 year before the birth of Emily Bronte. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818
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