Brian Wilks. In Memoriam

Delivering a talk in Brussels, 2010 (Source)

The Brontë sisters have hypnotized the world. Their novels, their fame, the story of their extraordinary lives, all conspire to bring visitors in their hundreds to the front door of their parsonage home in Haworth, Yorkshire. (Brian Wilks, The Brontës, 1975). 

We report now, rather belatedly, the death of author and Brontë scholar Brian Wilks (1933-2019) who sadly died last March after a short illness. He was the author of several Brontë-related books which tried to fill the gap between the scholar-oriented publications and the popular, mass-market ones for the Brontë aficionados. Particularly in the pre-Internet era, where finding images and pictures was not so trivial and immediate as nowadays, books like The Illustrated Brontës of Haworth were a real source of delight. In 1998, he also published an account of Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nicholls' relationship which sparkled a memorable controversy with another Brontë scholar, Tom Winnifrith (you can read their verbal confrontation here and here).

The Brontës, Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., London, 1975
The illustrated Brontës of Haworth : scenes and characters from the lives and writings of the Brontë sisters, Introduction by Victoria Glendinning, Collins Willow, London, 1986.
Charlotte in Love: The Courtship and Marriage of Charlotte Brontë, Michael O'Mara Books, 1998

He also was a frequent Brontë Studies contributor, member of the Brontë Council, and Vice-President of the Brontë Society:

The Meaning of Exile: The Importance of the Reverend Patrick Brontë’s Early Years in Ireland
Volume 43, 2018 - Issue 2, Pages 156-163
Jane Eyre Revisited
Volume 41, 2016 - Issue 4, Pages 283-299
Dr Charles Longley, Bishop of Ripon
Volume 41, 2016 - Issue 2, Pages 112-116
Haworth and the World Beyond
Volume 40, 2015 - Issue 4, Pages 283-289
Patrick Brontë: the Man who Arrived at Cambridge University
Volume 39, 2014 - Issue 2, Pages 93-105
Schools and Schooling in the Life and Literature of the Brontë Family
Volume 38, 2013 - Issue 4, Pages 262-268
Villette: The Biblical/Theological Impulse
Volume 37, 2012 - Issue 4, Pages 332-338
The Rout of the Reverend Redhead: Gaskell and Longley
Volume 33, 2008 - Issue 3, Pages 242-244
A Bishop, Bed and Breakfast, A Mystery Dessert and a Poignant Letter: Material Found among the Papers of Dr Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury
Volume 32, 2007 - Issue 2, Pages 91-95
There is a Spot Mid Barren Hills
Brontë Society Transactions, Volume 19, 1989 - Issue 7, Pages 310-320
Schools and Schooling in the Life and Literature of the Brontë Family
Brontë Society Transactions, Volume 18, 1985 - Issue 5, Pages 355-362