Brontës (178 page)

74.
Firth, 19 Aug 1818.

75.
Binns, ‘Brontë Nurses', 415.

76.
LM
, 3 Oct 1818 p.3; Firth, 19 Oct and 9 Nov 1818.

77.
Holgate, 327; Churchwardens' Books for the Chapelry of Thornton, 27 Dec 1817: Microfiche 81D85/12/2, WYAS, Bradford; Firth, 9Dec 1818.

78.
Ibid., 10 Nov and 6 Dec 1818. Almost £27 had been spent on joinery and interior decoration by the time the chapel reopened on 6December; a further £10 8s 4d was spent over the next 3months: Churchwardens' Books for the Chapelry of Thornton, 28 Dec 1818, 7 May 1819: Microfiche 81D85/12/2, WYAS, Bradford.

79.
Holgate, 336. Holgate speculates that Patrick gave Thomas Driver the name ‘Rembrandt' but the man came from a family of painters and they undoubtedly chose his name, just as the sons of Abraham Parker of Oxenhope were named after famous musicians: the best known was Handel Parker (1854–1928), conductor of Haworth Band for fifty years and composer of ‘Deep Harmony': Kenneth Denton,
Yorkshire Post
, 4Jan 2008.

80.
LM
, 21 Nov 1818 p.2; 5 Dec 1818 pp.2–3. Funeral sermons were preached in the parish church and at Christ Church, Bradford, on 2December but the Old Bell Chapel did not reopen till the 6th. Official mourning ended on 29 December: ibid., 2 Jan 1819 p.3.

81.
Firth, 8 Jan 1819.

82.
Scruton, 59. Scruton's reliability is extremely suspect (see, for example, his demonstrably untrue story about Patrick's courtship of Maria) but the churchwardens' accounts do show a payment of 9s. 10d. for ‘treating Abm Sharp and Clerk paid for Children at Bradford when Bishop was on confirmation': Churchwardens' Books for the Chapelry of Thornton, 27 Dec 1819: Microfiche 81D85/12/2, WYAS, Bradford. Both sources refer to the ‘bishop' taking the confirmation but the bishopric of Ripon was not created until 1832; in 1819 the parish of Bradford was still directly under the authority of the Archbishop of York. L&D, 178 fancifully and without a shred of evidence suggest that Patrick downed an Irish whiskey while the young people were eating.

83.
LM
, 24 Apr 1819 p.2. L&D, 176 wrongly state that Fennell was appointed in April 1817: see above, n.54.

84.
Burials, Haworth. Charnock was buried on 31 May 1819.

85.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 8July 1819: MS n.l. [
LRPB
, 35].

86.
Michael Stocks to Mr Greenwood, 1June 1819: MS BS, xi, S p.1, BPM [L&D, 182]. Patrick was later to return the favour by signing a petition testifying to Stocks' good character: see below, p.207. L&D, 182 wrongly describe Stocks as a ‘clerical friend' of Patrick's.

87.
A photocopy of this deed was kindly made available to me by Mr Jack Wood, Treasurer to the Church Trustees, Haworth [L&D, 210–11].

88.
L&D, 211–12.

89.
Anthony Moss to Revd Edward Ramsden, 15 June 1819: MS RMP 392, WYAS, Calderdale.

90.
Henry Heap to the Archbishop of York, 2June 1819: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick.

91.
LI
, 14 June 1819 p.3.

92.
Holgate, 330.

93.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 8July 1819: MS n.l. [
LRPB
, 35]. Patrick is said to have gone to see Taylor and introduced himself as the new incumbent whereupon Taylor took him aside and informed him in no uncertain terms that this was not the case: Joseph Craven,
A Brontë Moorland Village
(Keighley, 1907), 58 quoting Miss Mariner.

94.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 8July 1819: MS n.l. [
LRPB
, 35–6].

95.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 14 July 1819: MS n.l.
[
LRPB
, 36]. Though Patrick may have gone to Haworth to take one of the three services on 12 July, he also performed 2 baptisms in Thornton that day: William Anderton like-wise carried out 2baptisms in Haworth on 12 July: Register of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7/1, WYAS, Bradford; Baptisms, Haworth.

96.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 21 July 1819: MS n.l. [
LRPB
, 37].

97.
Ibid.

98.
LM
, 23 Oct 1819 p.2.

99.
PB to Stephen Taylor, 9 Oct 1819: MS n.l. [
LRPB
, 38].

100.
Holgate, 337 quoting ‘a record book' in Bradford Cathedral.

101.
LM
, 30 Oct 1819 p.3.

102.
ECG,
Life
, 28–30.

103.
LI
, 18 Apr 1857 p.7. Gaskell dismissed this version of ‘the Haworth commotions'complaining ‘I don't see any great difference': ECG to EN, 16 June [1857] [C&P, 453]. Redhead preached at the afternoon and evening services at Haworth on 21 July 1844, this presumably being the occasion on which he was accompanied by his son-in-law:
BO
, 25 July 1844 p.5; Haworth Church Hymnsheets, 21 July 1844: MS BS x, H, BPM.

104.
LI
, 22 Nov 1819 p.2.

105.
Burials, Baptisms, and Marriages, Haworth. These were the only recorded occasions when Patrick officiated at Haworth before taking up the perpetual curacy in April 1820. ECG,
Life
, 28 says that Redhead had given ‘occasional help' to the previous incumbent during his long illness: he took 7 baptisms and 2marriages on 4 November 1819 and a funeral three days later. The bulk of the services during the vacancy at Haworth, and many of those during the 18 months prior to Charnock's death, were taken by William Anderton.

106.
Firth, Nov–Dec 1819.

107.
Ibid., 17–18 Jan and 25 Mar 1820. Anne's maternal grandmother was Anne Branwell, née Carne.

108.
PB to Richard Burn, 27 Jan 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [
LRPB
, 39].

109.
PB to the Archbishop of York, 4Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [
LRPB
, 38].

110.
Henry Heap to the Archbishop of York, 9Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [L&D, 200].

111.
Ibid.

112.
PB, Nomination to Haworth, 8 Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick.

113.
PB, Letters Testimonial for Haworth, 8Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick.

114.
PB, Assignation of Dues to Bradford, 8Feb 1820: MS n.l. [L&D, 199–200].

115.
PB to the Archbishop of York, 9Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [
LRPB
, 40]. The licence did clearly state the joint nomination by vicar and trustees as this was how the appointment was reported in
LI
, 13 Mar 1820 p.2.

116.
Henry Heap to the Archbishop of York, 9Feb 1820: MS ADM 1820, Borthwick [L&D, 200].

117.
Firth, 25 Feb 1820.

118.
Registers of Baptisms, 1813–27, and of Burials, 1813–39, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7and 8/1, WYAS, Bradford. According to the registers, Patrick did not officiate in Haworth between his appointment and taking up residence, though he may have taken some Sunday services.

119.
LM
, 5Feb 1820 p.2; 12 Feb 1820 p.3.

120.
Ibid., Jan–Mar 1820
passim
.

121.
Firth, 31 Mar 1820; J. Firth Franks to G.C. Moore Smith, n.d.: MS 58 (MS Q 091 F), C, vi, University of Sheffield.

122.
Firth, 25 Mar 1820; Registers of Baptisms, 1813–27, Old Bell Chapel, Thornton: Microfiche 81D85/7/1, WYAS, Bradford.

123.
Firth, 5Apr 1820; Joyce Eagleton,
The StoryTellers
(Bradford, 1990), I quoting her great-grandfather who was an eyewitness of the Brontës' departure from Thornton.

CHAPTER FOUR: A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

Title: PB to John Buckworth, 27 Nov 1821:
The Cottage Magazine
(1822), 245 [
LRPB
, 43].

1.
ECG,
Life
, 15.

2.
Jane Eyre
:
Christian Remembrancer
(Apr 1848);
North American Review
(Oct 1848);
Quarterly Review
(Dec 1848) [Allott, 89, 98, 111].
Wuthering Heights
:
Examiner
(8Jan 1848);
Britannia
(15 Jan 1848),
American Review
(June 1848) [Allott, 222, 225, 236].
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
:
North American Review
(Aug 1849) [Barbara and Gareth Lloyd Evans,
Everyman Companion to the Brontës
(London, 1985), 384].

3.
G.H. Lewes, unsigned review in
Leader
(28 Dec 1850) [Allott, 292].

4.
CB,
Biographical Notice
, 359.

5.
Thomas Hobbes,
Leviathan
(Harmonds-worth, 1977), 186.

6.
ECG,
Life
, 15–27.

7.
Unsigned review,
Christian Remembrancer
(July 1857) [Allott, 365]; ECG to unidenti-fied, 23 Aug [1855]: [C&P, 369].

8.
Babbage, 7.

9.
Robin Greenwood, ‘Who was Who in Haworth during the Brontë Era, 1820–61', (2005), 3, 24–46, unpublished typescript, BPM; Michael Baumber,
A History of Haworth from Earliest Times
(Lancaster, 2006), 97–109; Juliet Barker, ‘The Haworth Context',
The Cambridge Companion to the Brontës
, edited by Heather Glen (Cambridge, 2002), 16. Baines i, 519 lists 3 wool staplers, 5 worsted manufacturers, 2 worsted top manufacturers, 1worsted spinner, 1worsted yarn manufacturer and 1cotton spinner and manufacturer in 1822.

10.
The Babbage report of 1850 stated: ‘Many of the inhabitants of Haworth, pursue the occupation of combing wool for the factories. This business is carried on in their houses. In order to obtain the proper temperature for this operation, iron stoves are fixed in the rooms where it is carried on, which are kept alight day and night, and the windows are seldom, if ever, opened, excepting in the height of summer. In some cases I found that this business was carried on in bed-rooms, which consequently became very close and unhealthy, from the high temperature maintained by the stoves, and the want of ventilation.': Babbage, 6.

11.
Babbage also noted ‘huge hollows and vast spoil heaps' on the moors round Haworth, marking the extensive workings for flag-stones and ashlar blocks: ibid., 4. The state of the oat crop is annually reported in the local newspapers and the accounts of the Keighley Agricultural Show, which began in 1843, reveal that Haworth was renowned for its pigs: see, for example,
HG
, 15 Oct 1846 p.7. For the trades and professions see Baines, i, 519.

12.
There is no evidence for L&D, 204–6's highly romanticized account of the Brontës' arrival via Cullingworth and ‘Brae' [Brow] Moor: the 1771 map suggests a more obvious direct route from Thornton to Denholme Gate, down the turnpike road to the Flappit and then down Brow Top Road into Haworth: T. Jeffery,
Maps of Yorkshire
(1771) and 6–inch Ordnance Survey Map, 1850, Keighley Reference Library.

13.
ECG to [John Forster], [Sept 1853] [C&P, 244].

14.
My account of Haworth draws on personal observation over more than 35 years and information from Haworth residents, especially the late Eunice Skirrow, a descendent of Martha Brown's family and Honorary Secretary of the Brontë Society, to whom I am indebted for sharing her unrivalled knowledge of Brontë Haworth. I also relied on 19th century photographs and maps (esp. the Babbage map accompanying the report of 1850) in the collections of Steven Wood of Haworth, BPM and Keighley Reference Library. Since then new works have appeared: Robin Greenwood, ‘Who was Who in Haworth during the Brontë Era, 1820–61' (2005), unpublished typescript, BPM; S.R. Whitehead,
The Brontës' Haworth
(Haworth, 2006) and Michael Baumber,
A History of Haworth from Earliest Times
(Lancaster, 2009).

15.
Sarah Fermi, ‘A “Religious” Family Disgraced',
BST
:20:5:291; CB, Wedding Card List, [June 1854]: MS Bon 126, BPM [
LCB
, 272]. In the Brontës' day the town-ship was dominated by the mills of the Greenwoods at Bridgehouse, Springhead and Old Oxenhope and those of the Cravens at Ebor and Mytholmes: Greenwood, ‘Who was Who in Haworth during the Brontë Era, 1820–61', 4, 25–46.

16.
Shirley Davids and Geoff Moore,
Haworth in Times Past
(Chorley, 1983), 5, 12, 13, 15, 24–5. See also Babbage, map and 16; Haworth Census, 1851. The farmhouse which worked Haworth Fair fields can still be seen, sandwiched between Main Street and Rawdon Road. The ducking stool and well were at the bottom of Cold Street.

17.
Babbage, 18, 26, describes West Lane and Back Lane in 1850 as being ‘macadamized', or built from graded broken stone much smaller than cobbles.

18.
Ibid., 13.

19.
Davids and Moore,
Haworth in Times Past
, 26. ‘Brandy Row' and the other houses on the lower side of Main Street have also been demolished and replaced by new buildings and carparks.

20.
Babbage, 14–15. A number of houses on West Lane retain their cellar entrances with separate numbering from the door at street level.

21.
Ibid., 14–18 and illustration.

22.
Ibid., 12–13.

23.
Ibid., 26. Bradford and Keighley had recently had similar mortality figures: Haworth was simply late in tackling the problem. According to Babbage's mortality tables, all the Brontës outlived the statistical averages: even though they fitted the pattern by losing two in childhood, Maria was 11, Elizabeth 10. The rest – Charlotte (38), Branwell (31), Emily (30) and Anne (29)– all survived beyond 25.

24.
Steven Wood, unpublished map of Haworth correlating the original Babbage report map with tithe award and census returns: copy in BPM; Baines, i, 519. There were two other inns at the top of Main Street, the White Lion and the Cross, both within a few yards of the Black Bull and King's Arms.

25.
Church of St Michael, Haworth: Plan of Graves Proposed to be Disturbed and Covered, 1879: MS RD/AF/2/7/3, Plan F, Ripon Diocesan Archives, WYAS, Leeds. The Brontë vault, containing the bodies of Aunt Branwell and all the Brontës except Anne, who died and was buried in Scarborough, was in the west corner of the old church. It was sealed over when the new church was built and a brass plaque in the floor near the Brontë Memorial Chapel marks the site. The old church was in poor repair but Revd John Wade resented his predecessor's fame and the constant procession of visitors wanting to see ‘the Brontë pew'. His determination to build a bigger and better church ‘to the greater glory of God' prevailed over sentimental attachment to the ‘Brontë church', despite a public outcry against its demolition. The Merralls gave £5000 towards the new church: Memorials and Petitions to the Bishop of Ripon against the Demolition of Haworth Church: MSS RD/AF/2/7/3, Ripon Diocesan Archives, WYAS, Leeds; letters and editorials,
BO
, 10 Apr–21 June 1879. For the closing services at Haworth church see ibid., 15 Sept 1879 p.3. For a detailed account of this issue see Michael Baumber, ‘That “Vandal” Wade: The Reverend John Wade and the demolition of the Brontë Church',
BST
: 22:96–112.