Charlotte Bronte was the most admired of the Bronte sisters in her lifetime. Her four published novels, which are in part autobiographical, are still widely read today.
Born in Thornton, Yorkshire, in 1816, Charlotte Bronte was the third daughter of Patrick Bronte, a clergyman of Irish descent, and Maria Branwell. In 1820 they moved to Haworth. After the death of Charlotte's mother in 1821, her mother's sister, Elizabeth, came to look after the family, and the children, five daughters and a son.
Children read a lot and created the fantasy worlds of Angria and Gondol, writing stories and news-papers for these imaginary places. In 1824, the four eldest girls were sent to Cowan Bridge school, which Charlotte described as Lowood in Jane Eyre. Its poor conditions caused the deaths of Maria and Elizabeth and damaged Charlotte's health. The time Charlotte spent at her second school, Roehead, was far happier.
Here she made one or two lifelong friends, who appear in her novels. She later returned here as a teacher but gave up the post to set up her own school at Haworth with Emily. To get further qualifications the two sisters went to Brussels, where Charlotte fell hopelessly in love with M. Heger, later described in her novel Villette. Her first novel, The Professor, was not published, but she went on to write Jane Eyre, which was very successful. Charlotte refused three offers of marriage but in 1854 she agreed to marry her father's curate, A. B. Nicholls. The marriage was not long because she died the following year.
