Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë remain among the most renowned literary figures — even 150 years after their deaths — despite all three sisters having very brief careers that were brutally cut short. The Brontë sisters lived in witchy isolation of the English countryside but their vivid imaginations and keen mental flexibility would change the course of literature forever.

The Brontë sisters accomplished this basically on the strength of three novels between them: Emily’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Their writing touched on the complexity of human nature and the influence one person can have on others, while incorporating elements of gothic fiction with feminist themes. Here are some interesting facts you might have not known about the life the three Brontë sisters shared:

Brontë Sisters: Early Life, Childhood & Education

1. Where were the Brontë sisters born?

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë were all born in Thornton, Yorkshire in England, two years apart from each other. Charlotte Brontë was born first on April 21, 1816. Emily Brontë was born on July 30 1818, and Anne Brontë was born on January 17, 1820.  They also had a brother, Patrick Branwell Brontë that was born in 1817. The Brontë family later moved to the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where the sisters would spend most of their lives. The Brontë home in Haworth is now where the current Brontë Parsonage Museum stands.

2. Patrick Brontë came from an illiterate family

Patrick Brontë, their father, was born into an illiterate household in County Down, Ireland, and went on to become a pretty scholarly dude in his later years. He an aptitude to learn and a desire to separate himself from his background, and eventually went to England after getting a scholarship to St. John’s College, Cambridge. Patrick Brontë was a poet and pamphlet writer in addition to being the curate of Haworth, and he clearly passed along those literary gifts to his children.

3. Brontë wasn’t their original last name

Patrick Brontë was born under another name. His original surname name was Brunty, but in order to conceal his Irish heritage, he changed his name to Brontë after one of the famous British admirals Horatio Nelson, who was the 1st Duke of Bronté. It’s possible Patrick Brontë thought his name was too Irish once he got to St. John’s College, Cambridge, but it’s also possible he was trying to disassociate himself from his brother William Brunty, who was on the lam for being part of the radical United Irishmen.

4. Only Charlotte Brontë remembers their mother

Maria Brontë passed away in 1821. She was a literate and devout lady who was noted for her vibrant character, enthusiasm, and compassion. She left memories of her persona with her husband and her daughter, Charlotte. The younger siblings, particularly Emily and Anne, were only three and one at the time and they confessed to having only faint memories of their mother, notably her suffering in her deathbed.

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5. Maria Brontë may have died from uterine cancer

While this is the most commonly accepted explanation, Maria Brontë might have been suffering from persistent pelvic sepsis and anemia as a result of the birth of her youngest daughter, Anne. Whatever the cause, Maria died in severe pain, struggling with her illness. Patrick Brontë never remarried.

6. After the death of their mother, Aunt Elizabeth Branwell came to look after the children

Elizabeth Branwell was a generous lady who devoted her life to her nieces and nephew, never marrying and never returning to Cornwall to see her own relatives. She had a large collection of books and magazines, which the Brontë sisters devoured. Elizabeth Branwell also had a sizable income, thanks to the revenues of her father’s tea shop, which she put towards the children’s education.

7. Patrick Brontë taught the girls how to shoot guns

While Elizabeth Branwell was handling the reading and writing, Patrick Brontë was dedicated to teaching his daughters different skills, including shooting rifles. In the 1830s and 1840s, there was a lot of disturbance in the village and adjacent regions — including some civil unrest. Patrick Brontë was a gun owner who decided to teach his kids how to shoot and Emily Brontë in particular became a pretty good shot.

8. The Brontë children had a gift for storytelling, inspired by a set of wooden soldier toys…

The three Brontë sisters, along with their brother Branwell, spent their childhood imagining a world named Angria. Twelve wooden soldiers that given to Branwell by Patrick Brontë were at the center of the children’s imagination. These toy soldiers sparked their imaginations and they referred to them as the Young Men. The Brontë children put on shows, shared stories, and created journals and magazines about their world of make-believe. This shit was truly Game of Thrones-esque.

9. The Brontë siblings put their imaginary world into writing

The worlds the Brontë children created was not put down on paper until 1827. The youngsters composed their stories in minuscule handwriting inside miniature pages, measuring only 2.5 cm by 5 cm — with the idea that they were small enough for the wooden soldiers to read themselves. The tales featured princesses, emperors, and generals riding enormous water lions into battle, complete with detailed maps and illustrations. It’s easy to understand why some critics consider this fiction to be an early example of science and fantasy fiction.

10. The Independent compared the imaginary world of the Brontë siblings to Game of Thrones

The Brontë siblings were writing fantasy novels long before George R.R. Martin, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Despite the fact that the children were no older than 11 when they created these fantasy worlds, they were so fully formed that The Independent even noted that the Brontë children’s collaborative worlds of Glass Town and Angria are as complex as anything we’ll find in Game of Thrones.

11. The family used to believe that Branwell was a child prodigy…

Patrick Branwell Brontë had many abilities and interests, especially in art and literature. In fact, Branwell Brontë was frequently the driving factor behind the Brontë siblings creation of their fantasy worlds. Branwell’s father and sisters thought Branwell was a genius, and he was certainly legitimately gifted.

12. …but Branwell Brontë never reached his full potential

Branwell Brontë traveled for London to try to build a reputation for himself as an artist but according to In the Footsteps, of the Brontës, he quickly lost his allowance playing cards in the pub. Branwell Brontë worked some odd jobs and tried to make it as a writer and painter but ended up in a lot of debt and falling victim to alcoholism (and likely opiates as well).

13. Branwell Brontë was the first Brontë sibling to be published

Branwell Brontë didn’t write anything close to being as influential as the groundbreaking novels his sisters wrote, but he did beat Charlotte, Emily, and Anne to the punch to being the first Brontë sibling to have a poem published. Branwell had a few of his poems published under a different name in local publications.

14. The older married woman Bramwell Brontë had an affair may have been the inspiration for The Graduate

For a time, Branwell Brontë had a thing going with the mother of a kid he was tutoring. Lydia Gisborne Robinson was married and almost 15 years older than him, but Branwell was infatuated with her anyway. Branwell ended up getting fired from the tutoring gig and held on hope that Lydia Robinson would marry him once her husband kicked the bucket. By the time that happened, Branwell was already too deep in his drinking for Mrs. Robinson to consider marrying him. If some of this sounds familiar — kinda like a certain song from The Lemonheads — that’s because it may have inspired Charles Webb’s 1963 novel The Graduate, which was the basis for the wildly influential 1967 Dustin Hoffman film of the same name.

15. How did Branwell Brontë die?

Branwell Brontë displayed erratic behavior in his final years, begging pals for drinking money and even setting fire to his bed. Branwell Brontë passed away on September 24, 1848 at Haworth parsonage, the place where the Brontë family spent most of their lives. Branwell Brontë likely died from tuberculosis compounded by his alcoholism.

16. There were two other Brontë sisters

Maria Brontë (born in 1814) and Elizabeth Brontë (born in 1815) were the two eldest Brontë daughters. They both attended Cowan Bridge School and the place was such a dump that Maria and Elizabeth contracted tuberculosis during a typhoid outbreak at the school. Maria died when she was 11 and Elizabeth died when she was only 10 years old. Their father decided to withdraw the other sisters from Cowan Bridge and send them back home to Haworth.

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17. Where did the Brontë sisters go to school?

After being pulled out from Cowan Bridge School due to its miserable conditions, the Brontë sisters were able to continue their formal education. At 14, Charlotte was enrolled in Roe Head School, and four years later, she returned as the headmistress’s assistant. She accompanied Emily, who planned to continue her studies. Emily’s tuition was partially supported by Charlotte’s salary, but Emily quickly became homesick, and Anne took her place.

Brontë sisters: Career & Literary Pursuits

18. The Brontë sisters worked as governesses to support their family

Governesses (an outdated term for a rich person’s live-in tutor) and teachers were of the few available occupations for women of modest family standing at the time. While the Brontë sisters didn’t particularly enjoy this role — and this is something that shows up in their work — the three had worked as governesses at one point in their lives.

19. Their aunt left them a generous inheritance…

Aunt Elizabeth Branwell passed away on October 25, 1842 of intestinal blockage. She gave her three nieces a substantial sum of £900 (about $1200 American) in her will, allowing them to leave their low-paying professions as governesses and teachers to focus on their literary pursuits.

20. …which gave them the chance to study abroad

The sisters were also able to study abroad because of Elizabeth Branwell’s wealth. In 1842, Emily and Charlotte Brontë enrolled in Monsieur and Madame Heger’s Boarding School in Brussels. Despite the fact that Emily was dissatisfied with the school, at the end of their six-month course, she and Charlotte had excelled and were invited to return as teachers. Both accepted, but Emily Brontë returned home the next year to take a job in England.

21. The Brontë sisters attempted to open a school

Meanwhile, Charlotte Brontë had an idea to open a school for young girls.On the encouragement of her father and friends, she believed she and her sisters had the intellectual potential to establish a school for young girls in the parsonage where their Sunday School courses were held. However, they were unable to recruit students and ended up abandoning the project.

22. The Brontë sisters published a poetry book under pseudonyms

In 1846, the Brontë sisters published a collection of their poems. To avoid existing prejudice towards female authors, they adopted masculine first names. Charlotte became Currer Bell, while Anne became Acton Bell. Emily became Ellis Bell — each of them retaining their original initials.

23. Nevertheless, their poetry book wasn’t a success

Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell received very little attention. Only three copies were sold. However, one of these copies was bought by a man named Fredrick Enoch. In awe, he wrote to the publisher requesting an autograph — and today that is the only existing single document with the three Brontë sister autographs in using their pseudonyms.

24. The Brontë sisters were suspected to be the same person

When Anne Brontë’s publisher sold The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to an American publisher under the false assumption that it was by the same author as the hugely successful Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë and Anne were forced to travel to London to prove to Anne’s publisher that they were not the same person.

The Brontë Family: Death & Legacy

25. Charlotte was the only Brontë sibling to not die from tuberculosis

While Maria and Elizabeth Brontë contracted tuberculosis at a very young age, Emily, Anne, and Branwell all died of tuberculosis within a year of each other. Branwell Brontë died at the age of thirty-one, his illness exacerbated by drunkenness along with laudanum and opium addiction. Emily Brontë, who got a cold after his burial, died of T.B three months later, at the age of 30. Anne Brontë died of tuberculosis in May 1849, at the age of 29.

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26. Patrick Brontë outlived all his children

After the death of his last surviving child, Charlotte Brontë, a mere 9 months after her marriage, Patrick Brontë passed away at the age of 84, outliving his wife by 40 years and all 6 of his children.

27. The Brontë family name is in outer space!

Astronomers at California’s Palomar Observatory found three asteroids in 1973 and called them Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë in memory of the three sisters. The Brontë name was also given to a crater on Mercury’s surface.

Final Thoughts About the Brontë Family

The astounding literary achievements of the three Brontë sisters — with an assist from the lone Brontë brother — have had tremendous influence over our collective imagination for over 170 years, inspiriting countless readers, authors, and artists. Uniquely shaped by their upbringing, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are all considered among the most outstanding authors in the history of literature whose tragic and untimely deaths only add to the legend.

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Curious to learn more about the Brontë family? Check out our list of facts about Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë and Emily Brontë! Want to read more interesting fun facts about other literary superstars? Check out our lists on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley, and others!

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