For our meeting on 5th June, we were pleased to welcome back local historian Marjorie Dunn, who talked to us about The Brontes.
Her approach was to understand why people are still drawn to them so much, which she felt was partly due to the hundreds of letters which they wrote and still exist, thus providing insight into their lives. Patrick Bronte, surname originally Brunty, was born in Ireland to a poor family of ten children, but managed to acquire a good education, then he became a curate, but he also wrote poetry. He met and married Maria and they had six children, but Maria died young, and their Aunt Elizabeth came to live with the family. Patrick and Elizabeth educated the children at home, including writing, painting, music and French and they wrote their own imaginative stories in miniature books which still exist. After the death of three of the children, the remaining three girls Charlotte, Emily and Anne, who had all become governesses, pursued their writing and eventually became successful, although they used the names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell to hide their female status.
The Hathersage connection with Charlotte is often mentioned, as she visited her friends there in 1845. Marjorie’s view of the theory that North Lees Hall was used as the basis for Thornfield in Jane Eyre is that it was an amalgam of three properties, including North Lees. The most convincing fact is the very rare 12 Apostles cabinet which was in this building and is mentioned in the book.
There is NO meeting in July as the date for our outing was changed to 26th June, so our visit to Renishaw Gardens has already taken place.
There is NO meeting in August but on Saturday 3rd August the group is hosting the Community Coffee Morning in the Parish Room at 10am.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 4th September, at 7pm in St John’s Parish Room, when we will have another interesting talk by Anna-Louise Pickering, daughter of the late Pollyanna.
Everybody welcome, please bring a friend along to give us a try.
Trish Law