Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 to the Reverend Patrick Bronte and his wife Maria Branwell, who died only four years later. After her mothers death all five children were left to the care of their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. At the age of eight she was enrolled as a pupil, along with her sisters Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily, which excluded Anne, at the Clergy's Daughter School at Cowan Bridge. After only a year both Maria and Elizabeth fell ill and were removed from school where shortly they died, believed by Charlotte due to the ill-management of the school. Upon their death Emily and Charlotte were removed from the school. In Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre she fictionalized her experience at the Clergy's Daughter School in the Lowood School that Jane attends.

Charlotte was once again enrolled in school as a pupil in 1831 at Roe Head, but only stayed for a year. She returned home after a year to teach her sisters. However, she did not stay out of school for long, in 1835 she returned to Roe Head as a governess where she remained for the next three years. Over the next four years Charlotte returned to Roe Head, left to take a governess position with the Sidgewick family, left there to go to Haworth, the town she grew up in, to be a governess for the White family where she remained for only nine months. In 1842 Charlotte and Emily left of Brussels to finish their schooling. When they returned home the three sisters, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne attempted to open a school and failed.

Then in 1847 Charlotte had her novel Jane Eyre published along with Wuthering Heights Emily and Anne's Agnes Grey. All three novel were first published under the false names of Currur, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Not until the following year was the true author of these books revealed. That same year, 1848, tragedy struck in the form of death. Charlotte's last remaining siblings, her brother Branwell, then Emily, and the following year Anne all faced death. Marriage was proposed to Charlotte in 1852 by Rev. A. B. Nicholls which was turned down due to the fact that Charlotte did not love him and her fathers strong opinion of dislike towards him. Another book was published, Villette, which was written by Charlotte. By 1554 her father had softened toward Rev. A. B. Nicholls and they were engaged, then married. Charlotte was believed to admire but not love her husband. That same year while with child Charlotte developed pneumonia and died from dehydration at the age of 38. Some believed that she allowed herself to die from this illness as she viewed as a way to get out of her life.