Brontë Irish-themed talks in Brussels

A couple of talks organized by the Brussels Brontë Group will take place today, October 17:

An Irish-themed morning of talks, coinciding with the Irish presidency of the EU Council.

Irish Embassy in Brussels

Rue Froissart 50

1040 Brussels

Belgium

10.00 Talk by Nigel West

Nigel West is the patron and chief fundraiser of the recently-opened Brontë Birthplace in Thornton, Yorkshire. He will look at the story of the Birthplace and the legacy of the Brontës in Thornton. He will also talk about his family connection with Charlotte Brontë’s husband Arthur Bell Nicholls and the town where Nicholls grew up, Banagher in Ireland.

Nigel, who grew up in Leeds, Yorkshire, has a fascinating connection to one of the world’s most famous literary families. He is descended from a relative of Arthur Bell Nicholls. After Charlotte’s death in 1855 at the age of 28. Arthur moved back to his native Ireland, married a cousin and lived at Hill House, Banagher. Today a B&B called Charlotte’s Way, it was inherited by Nigel’s Irish-born father. In the early 20th century, Branwell Brontë’s famous painting of his sisters, now in the National Portrait Gallery, was discovered folded on top of a wardrobe in Hill House.

Inspired by this family link, Nigel became a patron and chief fundraiser for the campaign to buy and restore the terraced house in the village of Thornton, Bradford, where the four Brontë siblings were born before the family moved to Haworth. Thanks to a crowdfunding appeal and funds from Bradford UK City of Culture 2025, the house opened as a museum, B&B and centre for creative and educational activities in 2025.

Mindful of his Irish roots, Nigel has forged close links between the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton and the recently formed Banagher Brontë Group

11.30 Talk by Michael O’Dowd: ‘Charlotte Brontë: In Sickness and in Health’

Michael O’Dowd will talk about medicine during Charlotte Brontë’s lifetime, her various illnesses, her marriage, honeymoon and final illness and the debate as to whether or not she died of pregnancy-related complications. He will present evidence from correspondence and medical sources of the time that challenge the widely-accepted opinions about the nature of her illness and premature death.

Dr. Michael O’Dowd has had a distinguished career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist (he was Chair of the Irish Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) and has a PhD in medical history. He is the author of Charlotte Brontë: An Irish Odyssey, in which he follows Charlotte and Arthur’s honeymoon trail, and Charlotte Brontë: A Medical Casebook (2025). Writing with his daughter under the pseudonym Derry O’Dowd, he is also the author of The Scarlet Ribbon series of novels about a young surgeon working as a ‘man-midwife’ in the 18th century.

Charlotte Brontë: A Medical Casebook offers a fresh examination of Charlotte Brontë’s life through the lens of 19th-century medicine, exploring the novelist’s health for the first time using the medical thinking and practices of her own time.

Michael is married to Christine Patterson, who was part of the successful Donegal folk band The Pattersons in the 1960s and 70s. The couple have just brought out a musical tribute to the Brontës, a collection of ten songs called The Brontës: Love and Honour with lyrics by Michael and music and vocals by Christine with other musicians.

Michael has close links with the Banagher Brontë Group.