The Brontë Sisters: Anne Brontë

The youngest of the Brontë sisters, Anne Brontë earned her place among her siblings with her novel: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It is considered one of the greatest feminist novels of the 19th century alongside her sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre. Anne was born in Thornton, West Yorkshire in 1820. She only completed two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall before her early death in 1849. 

Anne went to Haworth with her family when she was a few months old. Shortly after the move her mother, Maria, fell ill and passed away. Anne, who never got to know her mother, was instead raised by Maria’s sister. Anne’s father described her as a precious child; when asked what she wanted most, she’d answer with “age and experience”. While her siblings were sent to boarding school, Anne was left all alone, however,  in 1825, Anne’s eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, both died of tuberculosis. The Brontë father demanded that Charlotte and Emily return home to be homeschooled, subsequently, the sisters rarely got the chance to socialise with other children and therefore learned to rely on each other. 

Their education was focused on music, the arts and housework. However, the sisters became infatuated with literature. They used to sneak into their father's library and read all sorts of works. Together the siblings created make-believe worlds, one being: Angria. Emily and Anne later constructed Gondal together. The two sisters were close-knit as Charlotte studied abroad. When Charlotte returned from her studies, she began tutoring Anne. This ended in 1835 as Charlotte returned to her old boarding school as a teacher alongside Emily, who was a student.

Unfortunately, Emily became homesick and had to be replaced by Anne. She was about fifteen at the time and had never been that far away from home; Anne was terrified. However, she endured it because of her ambition to attain an education. In 1837, two years into her education, Anne fell ill with gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining. At the same time, Anne experienced a religious crisis. Everyone believed her lack of belief caused the gastritis. Therefore her father demanded she be sent back home. 

At nineteen, Anne took a position as governess at Blake Hall. Many of her experiences at Blake Hall inspired depictions in her first novel, Anges Grey. She recalls it as being a horrible place of work. The children were rowdy and unruly, she did not manage to raise nor educate them properly and therefore got fired. 

As she returned home to her sisters, who were also unemployed, she fell in love with a man called William Weightman in Haworth. He became the inspiration for Edward Weston in Anges Grey, who the eponymous heroine is attracted to. Their love story remains incomplete as William died in 1842. 

Anne became employed as a governess once again, but this time for the Robinson in York and worked there from 1840 to 1845. At first, she experienced the same difficulties as with her last family. She wrote many letters to her sisters describing how dreadful it was and how much she’d like to be back home. With time, Anne got better at being a governess and eventually became very well-liked among the Robinsons.

Whilst working at the Robinsons, Anne and her sisters dabbled with the idea of opening a school together, however, they could not figure out the logistics. When her aunt died Anne made a brief visit home. Anne later returned to the Robinsons alongside her brother, Branwell. However, Branwell started an affair with Mrs Robinson which led them both to resign to avoid any awkwardness. 

In 1846 Anne and her sister published a set of poems together under the famous pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Agnes Grey was published in 1847 but was exceeded by Emily’s Wuthering Heights. A year later her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was completed.

In 1847, her brother fell ill and died of tuberculosis. A few months later, Emily became ill and continued to worsen and reject any medical attention. She died in late 1848 at age 30. Anne was hit hard by Emily’s death and soon fell ill with influenza and was diagnosed with the white death. She decided to visit Scarborough with her sister and remained there for her final days.  She died on the 28th of May in 1849, aged 29 and was buried in Scarborough. 

The third and final Brontë sister, Anne Brontë, whose work has not been given the attention it deserves. Overshadowed by the eldest sisters, she was deemed “a Brontë without genius”. Her memory and novels are not in vain, multiple people love and appreciate her works.