Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.

Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England. Anne lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire Dales. Otherwise, she attended a boarding school in Mirfield between 1836 and 1837, and between 1839 and 1845 lived elsewhere working as a governess. In 1846, she published a book of poems with her sisters, using the pen name Acton Bell. Her first novel, Agnes Grey, was published in 1847 as one of a three-volume set which included Wuthering Heights by her sister Emily Brontë. Anne's second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was published in 1848. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is often considered one of the first feminist novels.

Anne died at 29, most likely of pulmonary tuberculosis. After her death, her sister Charlotte edited Agnes Grey to fix issues with its first edition, but prevented republication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. As a result, Anne is not as well known as her sisters. Nonetheless, both of her novels are now considered classics of English literature.

Anne's father was Irish curate Patrick Brontë, the oldest of ten children born to Hugh Brunty and Eleanor McCrory, poor Irish peasant farmers. Anne's mother was Maria Branwell, the daughter of Anne Carne and Thomas Branwell, a successful and property-owning grocer and tea merchant in Penzance.

Their first child, Maria (1814–1825), was born after they moved to Hartshead. In 1815, Patrick was appointed curate of the chapel in Market Street Thornton, near Bradford. A second daughter, Elizabeth (1815–1825), was born shortly after. Four more children followed: Charlotte (1816–1855), Patrick Branwell (1817–1848), Emily (1818–1848), and Anne (1820–1849).

Anne was the youngest of the Brontë children. She was born on 17 January 1820 at the parsonage in Market Street, Thornton, on the outskirts of Bradford, where her father, Patrick, was curate. Anne was baptised in Thornton on 25 March 1820, and soon after, Patrick was appointed to the perpetual curacy in Haworth, a small town seven miles (11 km) away. In April 1820 the family moved into the five-roomed Haworth Parsonage.

When Anne was barely a year old, her mother, Maria, became ill, probably with uterine cancer. Maria died on 15 September 1821. Patrick tried to remarry, without success. Maria's sister, Elizabeth Branwell, had moved to the parsonage initially to care for Maria, but stayed on to help with the children, and remained there until her death. She was stern and expected respect, not love. There was little affection between her and the older children. According to tradition, Anne was her favourite.

In Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte, Patrick remembered Anne as precocious. Patrick said that when Anne was four years old he had asked her what a child most wanted and that she had replied: "age and experience".