Old School Room

Keighley News SAVED BY SPIRITED CAMPAIGN
An historic Haworth building which was at risk of being sold off to developers has won a reprieve.

Campaigners have been working to save the Old School Room, which is the only building in Haworth to have been designed and constructed by the Rev Patrick Bronte, father of the famous sisters.

The Church Street property is owned by Haworth Parish Church, but it is in urgent need of restoration. Dry rot was discovered in the building’s roof space in June.

A committee called Bronte Spirit has been investigating how to drum up support for the expensive project.

It has been estimated that nearly £1 million is needed to repair and refurbish the roof.

On Monday, a spokesman for the group said: “Following a series of crisis meetings between the church’s parochial council and Bronte Spirit, it was decided last week that enough potential support had been received for the restoration project to continue for the time being.

“At a meeting last Wednesday it was agreed that archaeologist Dr Angela Redmond, one of the current directors of Bronte Spirit, would lead the project, that the planned application for charitable status would continue and that discussions with two organisations are to be explored.”

Dr Redmond, who had been employed by Bronte Spirit when an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was being advanced in 2008, said: “We believe that the building has a future with a role in the community and that’s something we’ll be exploring in the next few weeks.

“We were concerned that the lack of funds and support were threatening the project. But we’ve been encouraged by our initial discussions with organisations and individuals who want the Old School Room to be restored and remain true to Patrick Bronte’s vision of having a building available for public good.

“We don’t want to say publicly which organisations have been in touch with us because negotiations are at a delicate stage. No doubt if those discussions are successful it will be possible to make appropriate announcements later.”

The Rev Peter Mayo Smith, the priest in charge at Haworth Parish Church, said: “We’re exploring every avenue and, although we recognise that these are not easy economic times, we believe that it could be possible to secure enough grants to enable us to restore and develop the building as a community asset.

“None of us really wanted to sell the building but we have been in real danger of having to take that drastic step. Fortunately, we have been able to step back from that brink.”

Charlotte Bronte gown.

Its a hybrid gown, I wanted to make a brown gown for my Bronte wardrobe as brown is fairly well represented in the parsonage catalogues of Bronte clothing and accessories. Its sleeves are modelled on the going away gown, the bodice is a hybrid between the shape of the going away gown and the details in the Photograph dress, the gown had a removable collar initially but I removed it and decided to wear it with a little lace trimmed neckline and  lace trimmed velvet ribbon, I wanted to create echos of the Richmond portrait. I also wore the gown with a white lace trimmed collar but decided that it was too much of a style overlap even for out of London fashions.
Read more on the beautiful weblog: http://abigailsateliers.wordpress.com/

Brontë Festival of Women

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were pioneering women writers and continue to inspire contemporary literature in limitless ways. Following the success of the first Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing in 2010, the museum is delighted to be hosting this second festival dedicated to showcasing and celebrating women’s writing. The weekend features talks, readings, workshops and family events. We hope you'll be able to join us. The full programme can be seen below. Brontë Festival of Women

Bertha by any other name

Read more “You are exactly my brand of heroin(e)”: Convergences and Divergences of the Gothic Literary Heroine  
Bertha Guillard, Julianne 
Girlhood Studies, Volume 4, Number 1, Summer 2011 , pp. 49-66(18)
What brand of heroine can be found in the Twilight series? What discernible characteristics of a heroine can be found in gothic fiction and do these characteristics contribute to a social definition of girlhood/womanhood? In an analysis of the Twilight series' protagonist as a gothic heroine in contrast to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, I claim that the author, Stephenie Meyer, constructs a particular category of contemporary gothic heroine. Drawing on the statement made by the novel's leading male character, Edward, to Bella that she is his “brand of heroin,” this article plays with the idea that Meyer merged elements of the bildungsroman and the Female Gothic to create her brand. This brand of heroine fulfills the three distinct categories of girlhood/womanhood that characterize both the Gothic novel and the bildungsroman: a dependent stage, a caretaker stage, and a wife stage.by any other name

AGNES GREY

First published in 1847, and thought to be based on Anne Brontë’s own experiences, Agnes Grey offers a fascinating insight into the plight of the educated spinster in Victorian times, for whom becoming a governess was the only respectable career available.

One of several "governess novels" written and published in the mid-1800s, Agnes Grey falls into the tradition of the female bildungsroman, or novel of development, and thus dramatizes the theme of innocence and youthfulness passing into experience. Unlike many such works of the same era, however, Agnes Grey is thought by critics to treat certain subjects absent from, or only vaguely sketched, in the woman's bildungsroman. Various scholars observe in the novel a critique of mid-Victorian social attitudes, especially as they relate to morality, childrearing, the treatment of women, the surging tide of materialism, and the hypocritical cult of domesticity. Agnes's numerous confrontations with the recalcitrant children she is hired to educate are said to condemn the domestic deficiencies of the British upper classes—personified in the idle, cold, materialistic, and largely disinterested parents of the Murray and Bloomfield children. Commentators have also seen in Agnes Grey a clever depiction of the feminine struggle to acquire independence and a voice in the affairs of a society that relegates women to domestic functions. nineteenth-century-criticism/grey-agnes

Social instruction

Throughout Agnes Grey, Agnes is able to return to her mother for instruction when the rest of her life becomes rough. F.B. Pinion identifies this impulse to return home with a desire in Anne to provide instruction for society. Pinion quotes Anne's belief that "All good histories contain instruction" when he makes this argument. He says that Anne felt that she could "Reveal life as it is...[so that] right and wrong will be clear in a discerning reader without sermonizing."^[11] Her discussion of oppression of governesses, and in turn women, can be understood from this perspective.^[11]

Oppression

Events representative of cruel treatment of governesses and of women recur throughout Agnes Grey.^[12] Additionally, Brontë depicts scenes of cruelty towards animals, as well as degrading treatment of Agnes. Parallels have been drawn between the oppression of these two groups—animals and females—that are "beneath" the upper class human male.^[13] To Anne, the treatment of animals reflected on the character of the person.^[11] This theme of oppression provided social commentary, likely based on Anne's experiences. Twenty years after its publication Lady Amberly commented that "I should like to give it to every family with a governess and shall read it through again when I have a governess to remind me to be human."^[1]

Animals

Beyond the treatment of animals, Anne carefully describes the actions and expressions of animals. Stevies Davies observes that this acuity of examination along with the moral reflection on the treatment of animals suggests that, for Anne, "animals are fellow beings with an ethical claim on human protection."^[3]

Empathy

Agnes tries to impart in her charges the ability to empathise with others. This is especially evident in her conversations with Rosalie Murray, whose careless treatment of the men who love her upsets Agnes.^[14]

Isolation

Maria H. Frawley notes that Agnes is isolated from a young age. She comes from a "rural heritage" and her mother brings up her sister and herself away from society. Once Agnes has become a governess, she becomes more isolated by the large distance from her family and further alienation by her employers. Agnes does not resist the isolation, but instead uses the opportunity for self-study and personal development.^[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Grey
kleurrijk bronte sisters on-this-day-in-1839-anne-bronte-became.

“Caroline Brontë”

brusselsbronte.eric-in-new-york-state-3-literary-world

“Caroline Brontë” 
The Literary World was a New York based weekly magazine published between 1847 and 1853.

On 15 October 1853 the magazine ran an article about ‘Anonymous works’, which attempted to reveal a number of writers’ pseudonyms. The ninth book was “”Jane Eyre,” 1848, by Caroline Bronte (who has since sent out “Shirley,” and “Vilette [sic],” though of conceded talent, producing less sensation, under the pseudonym of Currer Bell; the only survivor of three sisters; one other of whom is also known to the reading world.” The article also has Mrs “Gaskill”. The magazine earlier in the year had a very positive review of her Cranford. Advertisements The magazine does have one advertisement for the AmericanVillette, published less than two months after the English edition, by Harper & Brothers. Apart from that there was only one Agnes Grey ad – “By the author of “Jane Eyre,” “Shirley,” etc”. This book was published by T.B. Peterson’s.

Branwell Family

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY ‘August 14th, 1840.

‘My dear Ellen,—As you only sent me a note, I shall only send you one, and that not out of revenge, but because like you I have but little to say.  The freshest news in our house is that we had, a fortnight ago, a visit from some of our South of England relations, John Branwell and his wife and daughter.  They have been staying above a month with Uncle Fennell at Crosstone.  They reckon to be very grand folks indeed, and 
talk largely—I thought assumingly.  I cannot say I much admired them.  To my eyes there seemed to be an attempt to play the great Mogul down in Yorkshire.  Mr. Branwell was much less assuming than the womenites; he seemed a frank, sagacious kind of man, very tall and vigorous, with a keen active look.  The moment he saw me he exclaimed that I was the very image of my aunt Charlotte.  Mrs. Branwell sets up for being a woman of great talent, tact, and accomplishment.  I thought there was much more noise than work.  My cousin Eliza is a young lady intended by nature to be a bouncing, good-looking girl—art has trained her to be a languishing, affected piece of goods.  I would have been friendly with her, but I could get no talk except about the Low Church, Evangelical clergy, the Millennium, Baptist Noel, botany, and her own conversion.  A mistaken education has utterly spoiled the lass.  Her face tells that she is naturally good-natured, though perhaps indolent.  Her affectations were so utterly out of keeping with her round rosy face and tall bouncing figure, I could hardly refrain from laughing as I watched her.  Write a long letter next time and I’ll write you ditto.  Good-bye.’
------------------------
Maria Brontë and Elizabeth Branwell were the daughters of Thomas Branwell, a successful property owner and merchant of Penzance, and his wife Anne, née Carne. The marriage of 1768 seems to have produced eight daughters and three sons, though four of these children died in infancy. Thomas died in 1809, Anne the next year. Among the sisters of Maria and Elizabeth were Anne, Charlotte (who married a Branwell cousin in Penzance on the same day as Maria married Patrick, and who CB was said to resemble), and Jane, who married unhappily a prominent but peccant Methodist preacher, John Kingston. Among the brothers was Benjamin, who became Mayor of Penzance in 1809. Branwell visitors stayed with the Brontës on at least two occasions. In 1840 they were visited by John Branwell Williams and his family, cousins of their aunt, and Charlotte as usual preferred the male to the female – “Mr Williams himself was much less assuming than the womanites” (to EN, 14 Aug 1840?). Thomas Brontë Branwell, son of Charlotte Branwell, visited in September 1851, and Charlotte’s “the coast is now clear” (in a letter to MW, 22 Sep 1851?, proposing a visit) suggests that he wasn’t someone she was anxious her friend should meet.
Penlee house history-of-penlee
family.rootsweb.ancestry branwell 

Thornfield Hall

Norton Conyers 

It was Clare Balding’s love of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre that took her to Norton Conyers in North Yorkshire, a manor house owned by the same family since the 17th century and long thought of as a likely inspiration for fictional Thornfield Hall, where Mr Rochester kept his mad wife Bertha confined in an attic. 

In 1839, Charlotte was unhappily employed as a governess to a family at Lothersdale, not far away, when she accompanied them on a day trip to view the historic house. ‘I think she’d have been enchanted by its atmosphere,’ Clare explains.
It is easy to imagine this place being Thornfield Hall.’ Maybe it was a loquacious housekeeper who showed the visitors around the house and told them the darkest family legend, the story of a madwoman restrained in the attic back in the 18th century. The present owners of the house are Sir James and Lady Graham. ‘She was known as Mad Mary,’ explains Lady Graham. ‘We don’t know if she was a servant or a member of the family. Anybody considered mad was hidden from view.’ 

It makes me feel terribly sad being here... it feels so much like a cell, with just a glimpse of the outside world through the window

It was an astonishing discovery at Norton Conyers in 2004 that seemingly supports the Grahams’ claim. A door was discovered behind some solid Edwardian panelling, giving access to a previously unknown staircase. It led to a cramped garret with a small gable window. Could this be the madwoman’s chamber? 

‘It makes me feel terribly sad being here,’ says Clare, ‘because it feels so much like a cell, with just a glimpse of the outside world through the window. We’ll never know for sure whether Charlotte Brontë came up here. But I can’t tell you how strange it feels, how eerie to be allowed to wander through these rooms and imagine the screams and the groans of a woman locked away. And to feel the spirit of Charlotte Brontë and, in a way, the ghost of Jane Eyre.’

Read more:Daily mail Attic-inspired-Jane-Eyre-priest-hole-saved-Charles-II.html

bronte blog i-could-wish-she-used-simpler-language.html

Read also adelphi paper hangings 

 with an interesting story about 
 Norton Conyers: 

"The wallpaper was found behind 18th century paneling in a cupboard next to the house maid’s room. We know that the house maid’s room was originally much larger and grander but part of it was done away with when the 1780s ceiling was created. We do not know if this was the original place for the wall paper or whether it had been used in the grander rooms downstairs. This room had wallpaper which was stuck onto canvas and held together by a wooden frame and we found evidence of a soft woolen-type fabric which would have given it a much softer look which we are told was French”.

Muriel Spark

If writing came naturally to Muriel Spark - and she insists it did - so did her material. She specialises in paradox, danger, assumption, the Great Unseen. In her stories and novels, even in her biographies of Mary Shelley and Emily Brontë, the air crawls with treachery and half-truths. (...)
Her two biographies, do not forget, researched writers who experienced critical censure much focussed on their sex: Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, had variously been called a "mere sponge who absorbed the ideas of the great men who surrounded her", a cypher of her talented husband and a hysteric, while Emily Brontë hid behind a male pseudonym (as did her sisters) to avoid the double dismissal of her work as not only tragically girly but also unwomanly in her immodest desire to parade it shamelessly before the public. (Janice Galloway) bronte blog i-could-wish-she-used-simpler-language and  Muriel Spark.

Patchwork by Ellen Nussey under the Hammer

Bronte blog/ patchwork-by-ellen-under-hammer

A fragment patchwork quilt worked by Ellen Nussey is going under the hammer on September 27th. As the Dorset Echo said, A COLLECTION of vintage clothing will go up for sale at Duke’s auctioneers in Dorchester.

There will be a selection of clothing, bags and accessories on auction on Tuesday, September 27. There will also be a good example of patchwork, which was worked by Ellen Nussey, a close friend of the Bronte sisters. Miss Nussey met Charlotte Bronte at Roe Head School when Charlotte was 15 years old.

The patchwork is bright and in good condition and is being sold with several provenance letters, including one from The Bronte Society relating to when it was on loan to them.

Jane Shawl

From the weblog

 Audrey Eclectic

Last week I saw the new Jane Eyre for the first time. There are the pretty dresses and the finery, but there's also the grime and soot, and dirty hems and simple clothes and knit wear--- ah, stop there! Knitwear :)

And what does my adoration of a gritted up Jane Eyre have to do with Tasha Tudor, you say? Well, I think Tasha would most heartily approve of it since the 1830s was an era she was particularly passionate about. Her costuming, in essence, is that of Jane Eyre. And in the movie and in Tasha's personal wardrobe was a very simple but so snug and comfortable looking little shoulder shawl.

Word on the knitting street is that other knitters have fallen for the 'Jane Shawl' (which might as well be the 'Tasha Shawl") and several patterns have popped up on Ravelry. 

The bicentenary of the birth of William Makepeace Thackeray

Information from: http://victorianleeds.wordpress.com/

THACKERAY IN TIME, 1811-2011

School of English, University of Leeds

Saturday 1st October 2011

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Professor Judith Fisher (Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas), author of Thackeray’s Skeptical Narrative and the ‘Perilous Trade’ of Authorship (2002)

Professor Richard Pearson (National University of Ireland, Galway), author of W.M. Thackeray and the Mediated Text (2000)

2011 marks the bicentenary of the birth of William Makepeace Thackeray. This conference offers an opportunity to reassess Thackeray’s place in Victorian culture and in the history of novel, as well as the development of his critical reputation over the past two centuries. The conference will examine both Thackeray’s position within time and the importance of time – including questions of temporality, history, and modernity – within his writings. The concept of ‘time’ proposes a focus – with numerous permutations – for enquiry into Thackeray’s works and cultural status. By interpreting the relationship between Thackeray and time in different ways, we anticipate that scholars will be able to consider his writing in challenging and exciting ways, to reposition Thackeray on the map of Victorian studies, and to build on the existing body of scholarship.

Jane Eyre 2011 Region 1 DVD and Wuthering Heights.

On http://bronteblog.blogspot.com/: you can find a lot of news about:

Jane Eyre 2011 Region 1 DVD and Andrea Arnold's upcoming Wuthering Heights. After being presented at the Venice Film Festival, the film will enter the Toronto International Film Festival as a Special Presentation. The festival's website says about the film: 

No starched lace, no panoramic views, no sweeping score — Andrea Arnold takes Emily Brontë’s classic novel and strips it to the root of youthful passion, restoring its stark power for a contemporary audience. Following her bracing portraits of female desire in Red Road and Fish Tank, Arnold pushes even further here, portraying love as a rush of heart-stopping beauty, cruelty and impulsive acts.

And it includes a few promotional pictures (which can also be found on Collider) uncredited, although we suppose them to be the work of Andrea A. Nitecka:

Wendy Craik

Separate chapters are given to each of the seven novels. The author’s aims and techniques in each are assessed and Dr. Craik shows what light the books throw on each other, how they are related to the novels of the Brontë’s predecessors, and how the Brontë novels compare with their great contemporaries in the nineteenth century novel.
Wendy Craik

Patrick Brontë and Cambridge

Library of   St. John's College

Patrick Brontë, father of the famous literary sisters Charlotte, Anne and Emily, was born in the Banbridge District in 1777. Born in a tiny whitewashed cottage at Emdale kleurrijkbrontesisters patrick-bronte birthplace, he was the first child of Hugh and Alice Brunty. Patrick was apprenticed to a blacksmith, then to a linen weaver and draper. Patrick was tutored at an early age by Reverend Andrew Harshaw, who taught him in the early mornings before Patrick went on to his job as a linen weaver. By the time he was sixteen he was already teaching in the Presbyterian school at Glascar and then in the Parish Church School at Drumballyroney.

The Rev. Thomas Tighe, Rector of Drumballyroney, genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry/Drumballyroney was evidently much interested in young Bronte since he entrusted to him the education of his own children.

 

St. John's College The Great Gate  

Patrick moved to Cambridge in 1802 to study theology at St. John's College. http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about/tour/   He gained his 
BA degree in 1806.

The following is a list of notable people educated at St John's College Cambridge. 

Arts and Literature

• Douglas Adams, author
• Samuel Butler, author
• William Wordsworth, poet
• Patrick Brontë, curate, father of the Brontë sisters
• Robert Greene, arguably the first professional English author of plays, poems and novels
• Thomas Nashe, pamphleteer, satirist & playwright
• Robert Herrick, poet.
• Louis Cha, famous Chinese novelist and newspaper editor
• Frederic Raphael, screenwriter, novelist and journalist
• Sir Cecil Beaton, photographer
• Herbert Howells, English composer (college organist).
• Geoffrey Paterson, conductor (college organist).
• Tom Rob Smith, award nominee author of Soviet-era novels; erstwhile writer for Channel 5's defunct soap opera Family Affairs.

St. John's College Cambridge