Elizabeth Branwell (1776 – 29 October 1842) was the aunt of the literary sisters

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

and

Anne Brontë Anne Brontë (, commonly ; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish cl ...

. Called 'Aunt Branwell', she helped raise the Brontë children after her sister,

Maria Branwell Maria Branwell (15 April 1783 – 15 September 1821) is best known as being the mother of British writers Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë and of their brother Branwell Brontë, who was a poet and painter. Maria married Patrick Br ...

, died in 1821. She managed the household until her own death in 1842.

Early life

Elizabeth Branwell was one of twelve children born to the Cornish couple Thomas Branwell and Anne Carne in

Penzance, Cornwall Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

. The family was very successful in the import and export trade while her father owned a brewery, an inn and the largest grocers' emporium in the town. The close-knit family was broken up by the death of Thomas Branwell in 1808 and of his wife the next year. Maria Branwell moved north to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

where she met her husband,

Patrick Brontë Patrick Brontë (, commonly ; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, and of ...

, while Elizabeth most likely moved in with her married sister, Charlotte. It was for this sister that Maria's daughter, Charlotte Brontë, was named. Not much is known of Elizabeth's remaining time in Penzance, but she was a member of polite society and she had a private income of £50 which would have allowed her to live comfortably.

'Aunt Branwell'

Elizabeth Branwell visited Maria in 1815 in

Hartshead Hartshead is a village in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, west of Dewsbury and near to Hartshead Moor. The village has pre-Norman Conquest origins; the Walton Cross is believed to be dated from the 11th century. The name Hartshead is der ...

, Yorkshire where Patrick was curate. She would have then met her nieces

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

and Elizabeth, the latter of which was her namesake. Elizabeth helped her sister's family move to Thornton, Yorkshire where Patrick was offered a larger living. She stayed on with the family for a year and helped with Maria's

confinement Confinement may refer to * With respect to humans: ** An old-fashioned or archaic synonym for childbirth ** Postpartum confinement (or postnatal confinement), a system of recovery after childbirth, involving rest and special foods ** Civil confi ...

with Charlotte, born in 1816. Elizabeth Branwell returned to Penzance soon after the family settled in at Thornton. In the summer of 1821 she would be called back to Maria's side, this time in Haworth, Yorkshire, where her sister was suffering from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

. Maria died on 15 September 1821, after a long agony. Elizabeth decided to stay on temporarily to help take care of Maria and Patrick's six children.

Aunt, mother, friend

When Elizabeth Branwell took over the care of her nieces and nephew, the oldest, Maria, was seven years old while the youngest, Anne, was only twenty months. Elizabeth, at 45, was considered a spinster and though she missed the warmth and familiarity of her Cornish homeland, she stayed in the cold and secluded Haworth to help Patrick raise and educate his children. She kept the family on a strict routine and was mostly concerned with running the house and caring for the little ones. When the two eldest girls, Maria and Elizabeth, died from tuberculosis contracted at the

Cowan Bridge School Cowan Bridge School refers to the Clergy Daughters' School, a school mainly for the daughters of middle class clergy founded in the 1820s. It was first located in the village of Cowan Bridge in the English county of Lancashire, where it was ...

, Patrick decided to keep the children at home where he and Elizabeth would oversee their education.

Branwell Brontë Patrick Branwell Brontë (, commonly ; 26 June 1817 – 24 September 1848) was an English painter and writer. He was the only son of the Brontë family, and brother of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Brontë was rigorously tutored at h ...

, the only boy of the family, especially doted upon "Aunt Branwell" as he craved a mother figure in the wake of the death of his own.

Influence on Brontës

Elizabeth Branwell subscribed to several magazines that the children enjoyed reading as youths. Charlotte remembers "reading them by stealth and with the most exquisite pleasure." Elizabeth also continued to receive her annual income and needed very little money to live upon. As a result, she was able to fund many of the Brontë's adventures that would otherwise have proved impossible. She gave the girls money to open a boarding school, though the project failed to attract any pupils. She also paid for Charlotte and Emily's trip to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

to study French.

Death

Elizabeth Branwell unexpectedly fell ill in October 1842 with a

bowel obstruction Bowel obstruction, also known as intestinal obstruction, is a mechanical or Ileus, functional obstruction of the Gastrointestinal tract#Lower gastrointestinal tract, intestines which prevents the normal movement of the products of digestion. Eith ...

. Charlotte and Emily were in Brussels at the time and were notified of their aunt's illness. It was too late, however, as Elizabeth died four days later on 25 October 1842 in

Haworth Haworth () is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines, south-west of Keighley, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope. Nearby villages includ ...

. Branwell, rumoured to have been Elizabeth's favourite, was devastated. He wrote to a friend "I have now lost the guide and director of all the happy days connected with my childhood." She was buried in the family vault near the remains of her sister and two nieces.

References

External links

Brontë website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branwell, Elizabeth 1776 births 1842 deaths 18th-century English people 19th-century English people 18th-century English women 19th-century English women People from Penzance People from Haworth Brontë family