Brontës (177 page)

CHAPTER THREE: GOOD NEIGHBOURS AND KIND FRIENDS

Title: ‘I can fancy, almost, that we are still at Thornton, good neighbours, and kind, and sincere friends, and happy with our wives and children': PB to Revd Robinson Pool, 18 Mar 1858: MS BS 206 p.1, BPM [
LRPB
, 272].

1.
Firth, 23 July 1815.

2.
Ibid., 18 Jan 1816.

3.
Revd G. Thomas to Revd William Scoresby, 8 Dec 1840: MS in unsorted bundle, 1840, Whitby. This letter from the incumbent of Thornton to the vicar of Bradford protests against proposals to form new parishes at Clayton and Denholme: ‘When I entered on the incumbency of Thornton, by your appointment, it was on the understanding that the incumbency included the hamlets of Clayton and Denholme.' The parish registers demon-strate that Patrick ministered regularly to the people of Allerton and Wilsden: the latter, being equidistant from Thornton and Bingley, was divided informally between the two parishes: Registers of Baptisms, 1813–27, and of Burials, 1813–39, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/8/1, WYAS, Bradford. There is no extant marriage register for this period.

4.
ECG,
Life
, 40.

5.
Scruton, 16, 21–3, 27–30.

6.
Baines, i, 619; Page (ed.),
Victoria History of the County of York
, iii, 533. My figures do not include Wilsden which was split between several parishes. The population figures for 1811, with the 1821 figures in brackets, are as follows: Thornton chapelry 3016 (4100); Allerton township 1093 (1488); Clayton township 2469 (3609); and Wilsden 1121 (1711). Patrick accurately estimated the population of the chapelry as 9000 in 1820: PB to Richard Burn, 27 Jan 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [
LRPB
, 39].

7.
Firth, 1812–25. Incomplete and inaccurate transcripts are given in Moore Smith, ‘The Brontës in Thornton', 19;
L&L
, i, 39–45; L&D, 158, 166–9, 173–7, 181, 190–1, 196–7, 199, 201–2.

8.
PB to Richard Burn, 27 Jan 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [
LRPB
, 39]. The parsonage was ‘situated in the village of Thornton, consisting of six rooms, three on the ground floor, and three bed-chambers, having a stand for a cow and horse at one end, and a cottage at the other – All built of stone and lime … There is a road round
the West End into a garden at the back of the house – which is enclosed by a stone wall': PB, Thornton Terrier, 31 July 1817: MS in Borthwick.

9.
Leyland, i, 16–7.

10.
Burials at Thornton averaged 55 a year, baptisms 43: Registers of Burials, 1813–39, and of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/8/1, WYAS, Bradford.

11.
See, for example, L&D, 162 ff.; Edward Chitham,
A Life of Emily Brontë
(Oxford, 1987), 11–13.

12.
Firth, 6, 7, 9 and 11 June 1815. Allerton Hall was built by Elizabeth Firth's uncle Joshua who died in 1814; it was then purchased by the Kayes: Holgate, 330.

13.
Firth Family Pedigree: MS 58 Ci and E, Firth Papers, University of Sheffield; W.B. Trigg and G. Dent, ‘City Fold, Wheatley',
THAS
(1934), 182–4.

14.
Firth, 12 June 1815. The diary references almost invariably refer to ‘Mrs Bronte', ‘Miss Branwell' or ‘Mr Bronte's', which I take to be shorthand for ‘Mr Bronte's family'. On the rare occasions when Patrick called he is distinguished by his own reference e.g. ‘Mr & Mrs Bronte', ‘Mr & Mrs Bronte & Miss Branwell' and ‘Mr & Mrs Bronte's family' on 22 Aug 1815, 18 June 1816 and 9May 1817.

15.
Register of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/8/1, WYAS, Bradford [L&D, 169]; Firth, 26 Aug 1815.

16.
PV
(July 1815), 52–3. For Morgan's articles on the subject see ibid. (Feb. 1815), 11–12; (Mar 1815), 21–2; (Apr 1815), 26–9. For Patrick's earlier writings on conversion see above, pp.49–50.

17.
Ibid. (July 1815), 53.

18.
Ibid. (Sept 1815), 71; (Oct 1815), 78–9.

19.
Patrick's literary approach to the subject is discussed in Kate Lawson, ‘Patrick Brontë's “On Conversion”',
BST
:19:6:271–2.

20.
PB,
The Cottage in the Wood, or The Art of Becoming Rich and Happy
(Bradford, T. Inkersley, 1815), 5 [
Brontëana
, 102–3].

21.
Patrick himself still used ‘Bront¯e' when signing registers or letters at this time.

22.
Brontëana
, 100.

23.
PV
(Aug 1815), 52–3.

24.
J[ane] B[ranwell] M[organ], ‘Things worthy to be considered by all persons who doubt about going to the Holy Sacrament', ibid (July 1815), 54–5.

25.
MB, ‘The Advantages of Poverty in Religious Concerns', n.d.: MS in Brotherton [
L&L
, i, 24–7]. L&D, 128–9date the ms to the period of Patrick's courtship of Maria but this is unlikely: the concerns of the piece which reflect those of Patrick, the access through Morgan to his newly-founded
Pastoral Visitor
and the fact that Jane Morgan had contributed to it make an 1815 date more probable.

26.
MB, ‘The Advantages of Poverty in Religious Concerns', n.d.: MS pp.1–2, Brotherton [
L&L
, i, 24–5].

27.
Ibid., p.6

28.
See, for example,
L&L
, i, 24; L&D, 129. I have been unable to locate a published version of Maria's article but, as the ms was returned to Patrick, it seems likely it was rejected.

29.
Firth, 6Sept 1815.

30.
Ibid., 11–13 Oct 1815;
LM
, 30 Sept 1815 p.3; 14 Oct 1815 p.3; 3 Aug 1816 p.2.

31.
Ibid., 14 Oct 1815 p.3.

32.
Subscribers' Lists, Bradford Library and Literary Society, 1815: MS 42D81/1/2/1/3, WYAS, Bradford. The list covers the period 1815 and 1817–28 but Patrick's name only appears in 1815. Morgan and Mr Firth were both members.

33.
Firth, 18 Jan 1816.

34.
Ibid., 26 Mar and 21 Apr 1816; Register of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7/1, WYAS, Bradford. There was a tradition in the Franks family that the Atkinsons were Charlotte's god-parents:
L&L
, i, 33 n.1.

35.
Firth, 12 July 1816.

36.
Ibid., 25 and 28 July 1816.

37.
Ibid., 29 and 31 July and 1 Aug 1816.

38.
BO
, 29 May 1886 p.7. William Morgan, Mrs and Miss Fanny Outhwaite and John Crosse all had connections to the Bradford School of Industry.

39.
C.A. Binns, ‘Brontë Nurses',
The Dalesman
(Aug 1986), 415. The author of this letter was the great-great-great-grand-child of Nancy's sister Ruth.

40.
Venn, ii, 189; William Scruton,
Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford
(Otley, 1890, repr. 1985), 32–4; Morgan,
The Parish Priest Pourtrayed
.

41.
LM
, 3June 1816 p.3.

42.
Morgan,
The Parish Priest Pourtrayed
, 166–7 quoting John Fennell.

43.
John Fennell,
A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Rev. John Crosse, A.M. late Vicar of Bradford, on Sunday, the 23rd of June 1816
(Bradford, T. Inkersley, 1816); Morgan,
The Parish Priest Pourtrayed
.

44.
Scruton,
Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford
, 34.

45.
LM
, 9Nov 1816 p.3; Firth, 19 Nov 1816.
Both L&D, 175 and
L&L
, i, 41 run this entry together with the one for the previous day, 18 November, creating the false impression that the Firths and Brontës watched the eclipse together over tea at the Brontës'.

46.
L&D, 176.

47.
Kipling and Hall,
On the Trail of the Luddites
, 51.

48.
LM
, 14 June 1817 p.3; 21 June 1817 p.3.

49.
Firth, 18 Mar 1817. L&D, 177 suggest she had come to help with Maria's latest confinement. The only potential Thomas I have been able to trace is Nancy Thomas who, in 1841, was a 60-year-old lodging-house keeper living in Chapel Street, Penzance, next door to Jane Branwell, widow of Maria's cousin Robert (1775–1833): Census Returns for Penzance, 1841: Microfiche in Redruth.

50.
Firth, 11 and 18 May 1817.

51.
PB, National Society Questionnaire, [
c
.1817]: MS Y/A Mic 63, Borthwick. The other Sunday School pupil figures were 430 (Independent Dissenters), 250 (Baptist) and 90 (Methodist).

52.
LM
, 17 May 1817 p.3; Firth, 13 May and 12 July 1817. Patrick and Firth stayed with the Haighs at Longlands, a house in Batley: the Haighs were friends of the Firths and the Brontës had dined at least once with Miss Haigh at Kipping House. A Hannah Haigh, who was a fellow-pupil of Charlotte's at Roe Head, may have belonged to the Longlands family: J.T.M. Nussey, ‘Notes on the Background of Three Incidents in the Lives of the Brontës',
BST
:15:79:331–3.

53.
Firth, 26 and 27 June 1817. Recording his birth Elizabeth calls him ‘Branwell Patrick'.

54.
Register of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7/1, WYAS, Bradford; PB to Mrs Franks, 6 July 1835: MS BS 184 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 141], where he refers to Mr and Mrs Firth acting as Branwell's ‘sponsors'. It is possible that Branwell's godparents were Maria's sister Charlotte or her husband Joseph Branwell, particularly as their own son, also born in 1817, was named Thomas Bronte Branwell, suggesting that Patrick and Maria were his godparents. L&D, 176–7 state that Fennell, who baptized Branwell, had just been appointed minister of Cross Stone, John Crosse's old church between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. In fact Fennell was then his son-in-law's curate at Christ Church, Bradford: he was nominated to Cross Stone by the vicar of Halifax in April 1819 and did not take up the post till that year:
LM
, 24 Apr 1819 p.2; Ian and Catherine Emberson, ‘Turns in the Circle of Friendship: “Uncle Fennell”, 1762–1841',
BST
:30:2:145.

55.
LM
, 8Nov 1817 p.2; 15 Nov 1817 p.3; 22 Nov 1817 p.3. The death and funeral of the ‘ever to be lamented Princess Charlotte' are noted in Firth, 6and 19 Nov 1817.

56.
Firth, 7and 8Nov 1817.

57.
Ibid., 12 Nov 1817. James Clarke Franks was to win the Norrisian Prize at the University of Cambridge for the fourth year running in May 1818, which was an out-standing achievement. He became chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge and was appointed deputy Hulsean Lecturer in 1821:
LM
, 16 May 1818 p.3; 7Apr 1821 p.3.

58.
Firth, 23 Dec 1817. There is a photograph of Green House, which is now demolished, in Pobjoy,
The Story of the Ancient Parish of Hartshead-cum-Clifton
.

59.
LM
, 7Feb 1818 p.3. The festivities began on Shrove Tuesday (3 February).

60.
BM
, iii (April 1818), 102.

61.
PB,
The Maid of Killarney; or, Albion and Flora: a modern tale; in which are interwoven some cursory remarks on Religion and Politics
(London, Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1818). The book was printed in Bradford by Thomas Inkersley who had previously printed Patrick's
The Cottage in the Wood
.

62.
Ibid., v [
Brontëana
, 133]. The first quote, from Horace,
Satires
, bk i, no. i, ll.24–6, translates roughly as ‘and yet what harm can there be in presenting the truth with humour; as teachers sometimes give children biscuits to coax them into learning their ABC'; the second, from Horace,
Ars Poetica
, ll.343–4, was ‘the man who has managed to blend profit with delight wins everyone's approbation, for he gives his reader pleasure at the same time as he instructs him.'

63.
Ibid., v-vi [
Brontëana
, 133].

64.
PB,
Cottage Poems
, xiv [
Brontëana
, 21].

65.
PB,
The Maid of Killarney
, 121 [
Brontëana
, 180].

66.
Ibid., 72–3, 52–5 [
Brontëana
, 152–3, 160–1].

67.
Ibid., 24–6, 19 [
Brontëana
, 141–2, 139].

68.
Patrick is likely to have attended the meeting of West Riding clergymen called at Wakefield on 21 April 1819 to petition Parliament against granting further immunities to Roman Catholics:
LM
, 24 Apr 1819 p.2. For Patrick's opinions on Roman Catholic Emancipation see below, pp.182–3. His children were more hard-line: Charlotte, for instance, savagely attacked the ‘Romish Religion' and ‘necromancy' of
Irish Catholic priests in CB, Tales of the Islanders, vol ii, 21 Nov–2 Dec 1829: MS in Berg [JB
CBJ
, 25–6, 28–30].

69.
PB,
The Maid of Killarney
, 49–50 [
Brontëana
, 150–1].

70.
See below, pp.184, 195.

71.
Charlotte's first romantic heroine, Marion Hume, in particular, is a carbon copy of Flora, even to the point of playing the harp. For a description of her, culled from various sources, see CA
EW
, 71.

72.
Firth, Cash Account at end of 1818 diary [May 1818]; Firth, 20 Oct and 19 and 22 May 1818.

73.
Ibid., 30 July 1818; Register of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7/1, WYAS, Bradford. L&D, 180 and WG
EB
, 1 name Emily's godparents as Jane Morgan and the Fennells, WG citing it as one of the 2‘facts' known about Emily's infancy, but I can find no contemporary source which identifies them. The christening mug, now in the BPM, was purchased from Arthur Bell Nicholls' niece and would therefore appear to be genuine: HAOBP:H6, BPM [JB
ST
no.44].