Undercliffe Cemetery Charity have launched a campaign to raise funds for a headstone on the grave of Nancy Garrs.

Nancy De Garrs also known as Nancy Garrs, was Charlotte Brontë’s nurse and is buried at Undercliffe Cemetery, in an unmarked grave. She was employed by Patrick Brontë soon after Charlotte was born in 1816 and served the family for eight years. Nancy and her sister Sarah looked after the six children as well as doing the household chores. After she left the Brontë household in late 1824 she married twice but when she reached her 80s she had no husband and no means of supporting herself. She was taken in at the workhouse. Her dying wish was that she didn’t want to be buried in a paupers grave, and after a campaign in the UK newspapers and the New York Times some money was raised. But it wasn’t enough to pay for a headstone. We hope to correct this and at the same time get Nancy’s contribution to the Brontë family recognised. 

Nancy idolised Patrick and never tired of talking about her time with the Brontës. Patrick, Charlotte and Emily sent her gifts and she treasured these. These were her Brontë relics. She didn’t want to part with them, but in desperate poverty she had to. The fate of some of them is known but there were some very important ones such as a photograph of Charlotte on glass, which has disappeared.

When Mrs Gaskell’s book on the life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 it criticised Patrick along with Nancy and Sarah. She defended Patrick’s reputation and the book was changed. Nancy had saved Patrick’s reputation and she deserves to be remembered. Nancy was a loyal and faithful servant. When Nancy and Sarah left the Brontës the children they were in tears. Patrick gave them both £10 as a parting gift.

Help us raise the money for a headstone and for the cost of the groundwork so that Nancy can be remembered.

undercliffecemetery

While other inmates sat on wooden benches, Nancy had her own armchair. There was much interest in the old lady who had been the Bronte family’s nanny, and she was visited by journalists keen to interview the last person to know the famous literary sisters. 

Nancy loved to talk about her time with the Brontes. But with old age, and poverty, came a fear of ending up in a pauper's grave. When Nancy told the Pall Mall Gazette it was her last request to avoid such a fate, the London newspaper appealed for public donations so she could have a decent burial. It was taken up by other newspapers, including the New York Times. How much was raised isn’t clear. A 'typo' in a Manchester newspaper meant that some of the money was sent to Bedford workhouse, instead of Bradford... 

And when Nancy died in 1886, aged 82, she was buried at Undercliffe Cemetery, in an unmarked grave costing just a guinea. For over 130 years she has laid in the weed-choked plot. Now she has been added to a list of ‘Bradford Worthies’ buried at the cemetery, and finally she is to have a headstone. “Nancy has been hidden all these years. We want to acknowledge her part in Bronte history,” says Allan Hillary, chairman of the Friends of Undercliffe Cemetery which is appealing for help to raise £3,000 for a headstone and to clear the area around the grave. Allan hopes it will become part of the Bronte Trail, attracting more visitors to the historic cemetery. 

Stephen Lightfoot came across Nancy in newspaper archives. He and other cemetery volunteers spent six months researching her and, after finding her plot in burial records, cleared the waist-high overgrowth from it. “Nancy was a faithful servant of the Brontes for eight years and had a significant impact on the children,” says Stephen. “As well as the daily routine of looking after them, she took them for moorland walks and was involved in their play and early stories. The rich and famous are always remembered, but Nancy is representative of ordinary working people not always recognised.” 

One of 12 children of a Bradford shoemaker, Nancy is remembered for another reason too - she restored Patrick Bronte’s reputation at a time when history was re-written.

Nancy was at industrial school, learning housekeeping and childcare, when, aged 13, she was employed by Patrick as a nurse to his baby daughter, Charlotte, in 1816. When Nancy’s sister, Sarah, was later taken on too Nancy was promoted to cook and assistant housekeeper. The sisters lived with the Brontes at Thornton, moving with them to Haworth in 1820. “They must have been quite a sight - trudging up Haworth main street in a carriage, with half a dozen carts behind. Little did the onlookers know this family would make Haworth world famous,” says Stephen. 

When the Brontes’ mother, Maria, died in 1821 her sister looked after the household, and Nancy and Sarah were no longer needed. But, says Stephen, Patrick thought so highly of them he gave them a substantial £10 each as a leaving present. In 1824 Nancy married John Wainwright and they had a daughter, Emily. John died in 1838 and Nancy later married Irishman John Malone, who worked at a wool warehouse in Cheapside, Bradford.

By 1857, when Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography The Life of Charlotte Bronte was published, Nancy had outlived the Bronte siblings. “Mrs Gaskell’s book made outlandish claims about Patrick; among them that he burned the children’s boots, cut up Maria’s dresses and fired pistols out of the Parsonage door. She also called Nancy and Sarah ‘wasteful servants’,” says Stephen. “Nancy was angry and went to see Patrick, who wrote a reference for the sisters, stating: ‘I can truly say that no master was ever blessed with two more careful and honest servants’. Nancy had it framed.” 

Adds Stephen: “It seems Mrs Gaskell got her evidence from a village woman who’d been fired by Patrick. After meeting Nancy, Patrick’s friend, William Dearden, wrote a letter to the Bradford Observer defending him. Mrs Gaskell withdrew some statements. Nancy played a major part in restoring his reputation.”

When Nancy’s second husband died she fell into poverty and in 1884, aged 80 she left her Manningham home for the workhouse. It was then that Nancy parted company with treasured gifts from Patrick and his children, known as the ‘Bronte relics’

They included a roasting jack from the Parsonage, a little book from Charlotte to Nancy’s child, and what is thought to be a photograph of Charlotte on glass, which she showed to a local journalist.

“Nancy never tired of talking about her days with the Brontes and when she was offered £5 for a letter from Charlotte she wouldn’t part with it,” says Stephen.

So why did her Bronte relics end up with her nephew, John Hodgson Widdop, a Manchester Road draper. Did Nancy ask him to look after them? Did she sell them to him? Stephen’s research revealed that Widdop was bankrupt and served time in prison for obtaining goods by false pretences. A Bradford Daily Telegraph report in 1885 lists a “collection of Bronte curiosities” Widdop displayed at a bazaar in the city. He later sold three Bronte relics, including Patrick’s 1857 letter, to the Parsonage Museum. 

The Charlotte photograph remains a mystery. Says Stephen: “Did it survive? Will it ever be discovered? It may have been an Ambrotype photograph ‘taken on glass’ after 1852. Or a Dagurreotype taken earlier.”

It was Widdop who dealt with the funds raised for Nancy’s burial. She was buried with his mother, (Nancy’s sister, Mary), and father - there was no headstone, but the Bradford Daily Telegraph reported that she arrived at the cemetery by hearse in a “black coffin with brass furnishings and two wreaths of flowers”.

Nancy’s obituary in the Keighley News on April 3, 1886 said: “All her means were gone and she accepted the workhouse as an asylum wherein to spend the remainder of her days.” Stephen is researching the whereabouts of Nancy’s daughter, Emily. 

Victorian hierarchy continued in death at Undercliffe Cemetery. There are 124,000 burials there, in plots ranging from ornate headstones to paupers’ graves - one containing 124 people. Now Nancy is one of the “Bradford Worthies” whose stories, researched by volunteers, are told in the cemetery. By scanning their phones on a series of QR codes around the site, visitors can learn more about people buried there. 

“As well as civic and industrial leaders we remember people like Nancy who did good things but, as ordinary working people, were erased from history," says Stephen.

Adds Allan: "Like many interesting characters buried here, Nancy was hidden in undergrowth for a long time. We have an important part of the Bronte story right here."

Nancy's story will be included in a "Bradford Worthies" tour at Undercliffe Cemetery in September. Also that month, Bradford actress and writer Irene Lofthouse will be talking about Nancy's life in character. (Read more)

Undercliffe Cemetery adds Bronte nanny to list of Bradford Worthies

NANCY De Garrs was quite a ‘celebrity’ in Bradford Workhouse 

While other inmates sat on wooden benches, Nancy had her own armchair. There was much interest in the old lady who had been the Bronte family’s nanny, and she was visited by journalists keen to interview the last person to know the famous literary sisters.

Nancy loved to talk about her time with the Brontes. But with old age, and poverty, came a fear of ending up in a pauper's grave. When Nancy told the Pall Mall Gazette it was her last request to avoid such a fate, the London newspaper appealed for public donations so she could have a decent burial. It was taken up by other newspapers, including the New York Times. How much was raised isn’t clear. A 'typo' in a Manchester newspaper meant that some of the money was sent to Bedford workhouse, instead of Bradford...

And when Nancy died in 1886, aged 82, she was buried at Undercliffe Cemetery, in an unmarked grave costing just a guinea. For over 130 years she has laid in the weed-choked plot. Now she has been added to a list of ‘Bradford Worthies’ buried at the cemetery, and finally she is to have a headstone. “Nancy has been hidden all these years. We want to acknowledge her part in Bronte history,” says Allan Hillary, chairman of the Friends of Undercliffe Cemetery which is appealing for help to raise £3,000 for a headstone and to clear the area around the grave. Allan hopes it will become part of the Bronte Trail, attracting more visitors to the historic cemetery. 

Housekeeping in the Victorian period.

Mr. Brontë had intended that his second daughter, Elizabeth, should be a housekeeper, and the other four, governesses. The only paid employment that Emily ever undertook was teaching at the Law Hill School near Halifax in 1838, and she lasted only six months. Emily Brontë was only ever happy at home; she enjoyed housekeeping, and she enjoyed the company of the family's elderly servant, Tabitha Aykroyd.

http://www.bronte.org.uk/

Nancy and Sarah Garr had accompanied the Bronte family in Thornton in 1820. Nancy had joined the family as a nurse-maid, but was later promoted to cook and assistant housekeeper. In 1824 Nancy married. Sarah emigrated to America.

In 1821, Elizabeth Branwell 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. After Aunt Branwell died in 1842 Emily took on the role of housekeeper helping out in the kitchen.

Since 1826, 'Tabby' was the cook/housekeeper and for the first 15 of her 31 years at the Parsonage, she was the only servant living in, although the Brontë sisters themselves also cooked, cleaned and washed clothes.

In December 1836 Tabby slipped on ice in Haworth's main street, badly breaking her leg. Aunt Branwell suggested that she leave the Parsonage to be nursed by her sister Susannah, but the Brontë children objected, even going on hunger strike, and Tabby stayed in the Parsonage nursed by the children. The leg never fully healed however, and over the next 3 years many of Tabby's duties were taken up by Emily. Emily cooked and ironed.

In 1839 Tabby seems to have retired temporarily, moving into a house in Newell Hill that she had bought with her now-widowed sister Susannah. Mr. Brontë engaged Martha Brown, the 11 year old daughter of his Sexton, John Brown, but the greater part of the skilled and the heavy work fell upon the Brontë girls, with Emily becoming Housekeeper. In 1842, Tabby moved back into the Parsonage where she stayed, sharing the little servants' bedroom with young Martha, for the next 13 years.

Martha's duties ranged from basic washing, cleaning and laying fires, to running errands and, after Tabby's death, preparing food. She was also called upon to help nurse the sick of the household, and for all this she was paid £6 a year when she started, rising to £10 a year by 1858.

The Servant's Room. Tabby Ackroyd lived local, as did Martha Brown. To the left of the fireplace is a section of a staircase which would have gone outside.

1) Charlotte in a letter to Ellen Nussey: (after Tabby had been ill)

"" I discovered a most unladylike talent for cleaning, sweeping up hearths, dusting rooms, making beds etc., so if everything else fails- I can turn my hand to that- if anybody will give me good wages, for little labour. I won't be a cook, I hate cooking, I won't be a nurserymaid, nor a lady's maid, far less a lady's companion, or a straw-bonnet maker, or a mantua-maker, I will be nothing but a house-maid.""

2 ) Emily and Anne Brontë's Diary Paper, November 24, 1834.
I fed Rainbow, Diamond Snowflake Jasper pheasant (alias) this morning Branwell went down to Mr. Driver's and brought news that Sir Robert Peel was going to be invited to stand for Leeds Anne and I have been peeling apples for Charlotte to make us an apple pudding and for Aunt nuts and apples Charlotte said she made puddings perfectly and she was of a quick but limited intellect. Taby said just now Come Anne pilloputate (i.e. pill a potato) Aunt has come into the kitchen just now and said where are your feet Anne Anne answered On the floor Aunt papa opened the parlour door and gave Branwell a letter saying here Branwell read this and show it to your Aunt and Charlotte–The Gondals are discovering the interior of Gaaldine Sally Mosley is washing in the back kitchen.

It is past Twelve o'clock Anne and I have not tidied ourselves, done our bedwork or done our lessons and we want to go out to play we are going to have for Dinner Boiled Beef, Turnips, potatoes and applepudding. The Kitchin is in a very untidy state Anne and I have not done our music exercise which consists of b major Taby said on my putting a pen in her face Ya pitter pottering there instead of pilling a potate I answered O Dear, O Dear, O dear I will directly with that I get up, take a knife and begin pilling (finished) pilling the potatoes papa going to walk Mr. Sunderland expected.
Emily and Anne


3) Anne Brontë's Diary Paper, Thursday July 31, 1845
Charlotte has lately been to Hathersage in Derbyshire on a visit of three weeks to Ellen Nussy–she is now sitting sewing in the Dining-Room Emily is ironing upstairs I am sitting in the Dining Room in the Rocking chair before the fire with my feet on the fender Papa is in the parlour Tabby and Martha are I think in the Kitchen Keeper and Flossy are I do not know where little Dick is hopping in his cage


4) Emily Brontë's Diary Paper, Thursday, July 30, 1845
Tabby has just been teasing me to turn as formerly to-'pilloputate'. Anne and I should have picked the black currants if it had been fine and sunshiny. I must hurry off now to my taming and ironing I have plenty of work on hands and writing and am altogether full of buisness;

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/diary_papers

The back yard of the Parsonage contained a peat store and the two-seater privy, with seats for children and adults. A large wash kitchen, built on the back of the house.

A mixture of  coal and peat would have been burnt for heat, Mrs Gaskell recalled how fires burning in the grates ""made a pretty warm dancing light all over the house"".

A visitor to the Parsonage recalles how ""everything was exquisitely neat, and the copper pans shone like gold. it was a snug, warm crooning place.

Emily studied German, with her book propped up before her, when she kneaded dough"".

HOUSEKEEPING IN THE GEORGIAN AND VICTORIAN PERIOD.

A Homekeeping Schedule One of the things most stressed for the woman of the past was to keep a regular homekeeping schedule. A schedule meant all things were done in a timely manner.

"FOR convenience as well as efficient work in housekeeping, a schedule of regular daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly processes should be made out. Time can then be well planned, and a routine established that simplifies the machinery of housekeeping. " ~ A Manual of Home-Making

"A very good order of work is :
Monday, washing.
Tuesday, ironing.
Wednesday, mending.
Thursday, cleaning silver, preserving, etc.
Friday, sweeping, and window cleaning.
Saturday, thorough cleaning of kitchen closets,
cellar, etc., baking, etc.

a woman's work in the victorian age
victorian laundry
Life-in-victorians.
victorian servants
.kitchens-from-late-1800s-to-early-1900


Behind Closed Doors is a fascinating look at Georgian domestic life. The period covered is the long 18th century, from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the end of the 1820s.
Behind Closed Doors is published by Yale University Press & it’s gorgeously produced with lots of plates & illustrations in the text & heavy, creamy paper. A beautiful object worthy of its contents.
I also have the DVD of the TV series Amanda Vickery made based on the book, At Home with the Georgians. I’ve watched the first episode & enjoyed it very much. I loved seeing the people in the book brought to life in their own words & seeing their houses & portraits was fascinating. I was also intrigued to see Amanda Vickery whip out her iPad at every opportunity to show us a print (which she enlarged with a touch to the screen to show details) or a document as well as lots of more traditional documentary scenes of her lovingly unwrapping diaries in various libraries & archives. Seeing poor, frustrated Gertrude Savile’s diaries with their crossings-out & miserable scribble was very poignant. I’ll be watching the other episodes over the weekend.

housekeeping in the Georgian period.