Charlotte Brontë Timeline

(April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855)

Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters. Writing under the pen name Currer Bell, she rose to fame with her 1847 novel Jane Eyre, a landmark work of English literature that blended Gothic elements, passionate romance, and early feminist themes. Raised in the isolated village of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors, she overcame personal tragedy and hardship to become one of the most influential authors of the Victorian era. More Less

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Early Life and Family

Patrick Brontë marries Maria Branwell

Dec 1812

Maria Branwell, the daughter of an affluent grocer and tea merchant from Cornwall, and Patrick Brontë (born Brunty), an Anglican curate, were married at St Oswald's Church in Guiseley in December 1812.

Image source: Patrick Brontë

Brontë family moves to Thornton

1815

In 1815 Patrick took a new position in the Yorkshire village of Thornton, near Bradford, where Charlotte and her siblings were born.

Image source: Thornton, West Yorkshire

Birth of Charlotte Brontë

Apr 21, 1816

Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816, the third of six children born to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë.

Image source: Charlotte Brontë

Family moves to Haworth

1820

In 1820, Maria and Patrick moved with their six young children, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne, to the village of Haworth, on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been offered the position of perpetual curate of St Michael and All Angels Church.

Image source: Haworth

Death of mother Maria Brontë

Sep 15, 1821

Charlotte's mother died on 15 September 1821, after a long and painful illness, leaving her six children in the care of her sister, Elizabeth Branwell.

Image source: Maria Branwell

Deaths of elder sisters Maria and Elizabeth

1825

In 1825, after an outbreak of typhus at the Clergy Daughters' School, Charlotte's two elder sisters both fell ill and subsequently died at home.

Death of aunt Elizabeth Branwell

Oct 1842

In October 1842 the sisters were called back to Haworth by the sudden death of their aunt Elizabeth Branwell, who had cared for them after their mother's death.

Deaths of Branwell, Emily, and Anne

1848 - May 1849

In 1848, that year saw the deaths of all three of Charlotte's remaining siblings within eight months of each other. Emily died three months later of tuberculosis, and in May 1849, Anne died of the same illness.

Image source: Anne Brontë

Education and Work

Sisters sent to Clergy Daughters' School

Aug 1824

In August 1824, Patrick sent Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Emily to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. Conditions at the school were harsh, with insanitary conditions, poor food and frequent outbreaks of disease.

Image source: Cowan Bridge School

Charlotte attends Roe Head School

1831 - 1832

In 1831, when she was fifteen, Charlotte became a pupil at Roe Head, a boarding school in Mirfield, twenty miles away, but left in 1832 to teach her sisters, Emily and Anne, at home in Haworth.

Returns to Roe Head as teacher

1835 - 1838

In 1835, Charlotte returned to Roe Head as a teacher, remaining until 1838.

Governess to the Sidgwick family

1839

In 1839 she joined the Sidgwick family at Stone Gappe as governess to their son, John Benson Sidgwick, but left after a few months.

Image source: Stone Gappe

Works as governess for local families

1839 - 1841

Between 1839 and 1841, Charlotte sought employment as a governess to several local families.

Studies at Pensionnat Heger in Brussels

1842

In 1842, Charlotte travelled with Emily to Brussels to the Pensionnat Heger, a girls' boarding school run by Constantin Heger and his wife Claire, joining first as a student and later as a teacher, in the hope of acquiring the skills required to open a school of her own.

Returns alone to Brussels to teach

Jan 1843

In January 1843, Charlotte returned to Brussels alone to take up a teaching post at the school.

School project abandoned

Oct 1844

After returning to Haworth in January 1844, Charlotte had planned to open a school of her own with her sisters, but the project was abandoned by October 1844.

Literary Career

Branwell receives twelve wooden soldiers

1827

One of the most influential of the siblings' imaginative 'plays' began in 1827, when Branwell received the gift of twelve wooden soldiers, sparking the creation of their fictional worlds.

Image source: Glass Town

Charlotte begins writing poetry

1829

Charlotte began writing poetry when she was thirteen in 1829.

Angria and Gondal sagas begin

1831

From 1831 onwards, Emily and Anne withdrew from the Glass Town project to create a fictional land of their own called Gondal, while Charlotte and Branwell concentrated on an expanded version of the Glass Town Confederacy called Angria.

Image source: Gondal (fictional country)

Writes The Green Dwarf novellas

1833

In 1833 Charlotte wrote several novellas, including The Green Dwarf, under the name Wellesley, one of her Angrian heroes. From about this time, her stories showed less interest in the supernatural and shifted toward more realistic subject matter.

Paintings shown at Leeds exhibition

1834

In the summer of 1834 two of Charlotte's paintings were shown at an exhibition by the Royal Northern Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Leeds.

Letter to Poet Laureate Robert Southey

Dec 1836

In December 1836, just before her twenty-first birthday, Charlotte wrote to the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, asking for encouragement in her hoped-for career as a poet, and announcing her ambition to 'be forever known'.

Image source: Robert Southey

Submits The Professor to publishers

1846

In 1846 Charlotte submitted her first novel, The Professor, to London publisher Henry Colburn, along with Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey. The Professor was rejected by publishers.

Image source: The Professor (novel)

Publication of poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

May 1846

In May 1846, at Charlotte's insistence, the three sisters paid for the publication of a collection of their poems under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Image source: Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Publication of Jane Eyre

Aug 1847

Although Charlotte's first novel was rejected, her second novel, Jane Eyre, was published soon after its submission in August 1847, attracting both praise and controversy.

Image source: Jane Eyre

True identities of the Bell brothers revealed

1848

The sisters' true identities were revealed in 1848, and by the following year Charlotte was known in London literary circles.

Publication of Shirley

Oct 1849

After Anne's death Charlotte resumed writing as a way of dealing with her grief, and Shirley, which deals with themes of industrial unrest and the role of women in society, was published in October 1849.

Image source: Shirley (novel)

Publication of Villette

1853

The last of Charlotte's novels to be published in her lifetime was Villette, which appeared in 1853.

Image source: Villette (novel)

Posthumous publication of The Professor

1857

The Professor, Charlotte's first novel, which had been rejected during her lifetime, was published posthumously in 1857.

Posthumous publication of Emma fragment

1860

Emma, unfinished; Brontë wrote only 20 pages of the manuscript, published posthumously in 1860. The fragment has been twice completed by recent authors, including Emma Brown by Clare Boylan in 2003.

Later Life and Legacy

Proposal of marriage from Henry Nussey

1839

In 1839, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from Henry Nussey, the brother of her school friend Ellen Nussey.

Accepts proposal of Arthur Bell Nicholls

Jan 1854

Charlotte became increasingly attracted to Nicholls, her father's curate, and by January 1854, she had accepted his proposal.

Image source: Arthur Bell Nicholls

Marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls

Jun 1854

In 1854, Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate. She became pregnant shortly after her wedding in June 1854.

Death of Charlotte Brontë

Mar 31, 1855

Charlotte died, along with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855, three weeks before her 39th birthday, possibly of tuberculosis, although there is evidence that she may have died from hyperemesis gravidarum, a complication of pregnancy.

Gaskell's biography of Charlotte published

1857

Elizabeth Gaskell's biography was published in 1857, and, though it omits certain details, remains a primary source of information about Charlotte and her family.

Image source: The Life of Charlotte Brontë

Heger letters printed in The Times

Jul 29, 1913

On 29 July 1913 The Times of London printed four letters from Charlotte to Constantin Heger, written after her departure from Brussels in 1844.

Image source: Constantin Heger

Portrayal in film Devotion

1946

In the 1946 Curtis Bernhardt film Devotion, a fictionalized biography of the Brontë sisters, Olivia de Havilland plays Charlotte.

Image source: Devotion (1946 film)

Commemorative plaque unveiled in Brussels

1980

In 1980 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, on the site of Madame Heger's school, in honour of Charlotte and Emily.

Image source: Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels

Key Facts

Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, and was raised at Haworth parsonage alongside her siblings Branwell, Emily, and Anne.
She published Jane Eyre in 1847 under the male-sounding pen name Currer Bell to avoid contemporary prejudice against female writers.
Charlotte attended Cowan Bridge School, whose harsh conditions inspired Lowood School in Jane Eyre; two of her older sisters died after falling ill there.
In 1846, she and her sisters Emily and Anne self-published a joint poetry collection using the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, though it sold only two copies initially.
She died on March 31, 1855, at age 38, during her pregnancy, shortly after marrying her father's curate Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1854.

Source

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