Today in 1861 Patrick Brontë died. He was the last member of his family to die, only leaving behind him his son-in-law, a couple of faithful servants and a loving dog. Can you imagine what it is to outlive your wife and six children? It really seems unbearable. But because he was a strong man ad had an unyielding faith, he bore it all.
He was born in 1777 in a two-room cottage in Ireland and he studied and worked his way into Cambridge and when he graduated he established himself in England for good. Through a friend he met the woman who would become his wife, Maria Branwell - the one to write him a letter headed with "My dear saucy Pat". They got married in 1812 and children started coming. All six of them in only eight years. Unfortunately in 1821 Maria died leaving him a widower in charge of all those children. He was not alone though, since his sister-in-law had hurried to help before her sister died and remained with him temporarily. Temporarily turned out to be forever, since she never left again and never got the chance to go back to her adored Penzance. Patrick tried unsuccessfully to get a wife to bring up his children but there was none to be found. However, he resigned himself and took his children's education into his own hands. He did an amazing job. He didn't even made distinctions of sex, which wasn't so common back then.
And so he lived on, an amazing life that would deserve to be known even if his children hadn't been famous. He published poetry books and sermons and he fought for what he believed in and for his parish's best interests, such as water of better quality in Haworth. He encouraged his children's writings from a very early age and discussed politics with them as if they were adults when the oldest of them was not even ten! Sadly, later biographers felt the need to put him down and accusing of all sorts of things he hadn't even done. He was a very exceptional (and "eccentrick" like he wrote) father for his very exceptional children. He was also extremely proud of his daughters' literary - and it is supposed personal as well - achievements.
So, let's all try to get rid of his undeservedly bad reputation and find the real man. If you are interested in finding out more about this extraordinarily modern man you can either read the recently published book
The Father of the Brontës or - to get even closer -
his own letters, recently edited for the first time by Dudley Green. You can also read his literary production online for free:
The Rural Minstrel, the
Cottage Poems and
Two Sermons.
EDIT
The
The Brontë Parsonage Blog publishes today a report of the most recent meeting of the Italian Section of the Brontë Society in Vignola, that was centered around the figure of Patrick Brontë.
Categories: Reminder, Patrick_Brontë
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