Defying Expectations

The writing tablet (above) was Charlotte Brontë's, still filled with her bits and bobs, including the quill pens with which the literary sisters wrote their novels and stories.

The Brontë Society has amassed a wealth of other Brontë memorabilia, including many fragments of poems, drawings and manuscripts related to the family. They show some of it in the Parsonage Museum, linked to exhibitions focussed on different aspects of the sisters lives and work. The manuscript below is a poem written by Emily Brontë (1818-1848). The one on the right is dated January 12th 1839, when she was about 20.  Those quill pens were messy! The sisters all had very tiny writing, practised most famously in the miniature books they wrote to play with as children, and which kick-started their imaginative story telling. 

Below is a sampler embroidered by Emily, dated March 1st 1829, the embroidery as tiny and meticulous as her writing. 

There is currently an exhibition 'Defying Expectations: Inside Charlotte Brontë's Wardrobe'. It springs from research carried out recently by Dr Eleanor Houghton into clothing samples held by the Brontë Society, which have been proven to be Charlotte's. It suggests that, contrary to what you might expect, she had some colourful and quite fashionable clothing, actively participating in the fast changing mid-Victorian society in which she lived a relatively comfortable, though not wealthy, lower middle-class existence. She and her sisters did defy expectations, getting novels published (under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) and often in their letters and writings railing against the dull monotony of female life, and struggling with the jobs as teachers and governesses that they needed to find to supplement the family income. Despite the fine clothes, it was a hard life in terms of health and wellbeing. All of the siblings died relatively young. Patrick, their father, outlived them all. 

The exhibition features this striped and embellished evening dress, sketched below. 

This day dress was passed on to another person and altered but it is known to have been Charlotte's. Such a pretty fabric. 

Mid-Victorian dresses had wide skirts over lots of petticoats and, later, over hoops to form the skirt shape. The scraps of fabric are surprisingly pretty, featuring flowers, stripes and paisley patterns. I was interested to note that analysis shows that the Brontës had some fabrics woven of alpaca and wool - most likely manufactured by Saltaire's own Sir Titus Salt, who discovered how to spin and incorporate alpaca wool into fine, lustrous cloth. 

I just love the bonnets too. This one was Charlotte's - a high quality straw made in Italy, lined with floral silk. So pretty - they should make a comeback!  

I liked this scrap of fine lace too, maybe part of a shawl. Shawls had an important role in a Victorian lady's wardrobe, providing warmth and/or decorative appeal.  The exhibition shows several beautiful versions that were owned by Charlotte.