Bronte, Anne

Anne Bronte (1820-1849), sister of Charlotte and Emily was the youngest of six children and is best known for her novels Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). She was born in 1820 in Thornton, Yorkshire, where her father wasthe rector of Haworth from 1820. In 1821 her mother died and she and her sisters and brother were largely educated at home, spending much of their time on reading and composition. She was particularly close to Emily and together they invented the fantasy world of Gondal, the place where many of their poems were set. It was thought that during this time, under the influence of her Aunt Elisabeth, she developed a tendency towards religious melancholy. In 1839 Anne worked as a governess to the Ingham family at Blake Hall and then later in 1841 in a similar position for the Robinson family at Thorpe Green Hall. Her brother Branwell joined her there as a tutor in 1843 with disastrous consequences after he fell in love with Mrs Robinson. It iswidely believed that her portrait of the violent, alcoholic, Arthur Huntingdon in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is based on Branwell. Anne fell ill shortly after the publication of the book and died from tuberculosis the following May in Scarborough.