Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë was born on January 17, 1820, in Thornton, England. The youngest of six children, she grew up in nearby Haworth, where her father, Patrick Brontë, was the curate of the local church. Anne’s mother passed away in 1821, and her two oldest sisters died of tuberculosis in 1824.

Anne was educated at Haworth with her brother Branwell and her sisters Charlotte and Emily. There, she wrote poetry and prose set in the imaginary kingdom of Gondal. She pursued more formal studies at Roe Head School for two years, and she served as a governess for two families between 1839 and 1845.

In 1846, Charlotte arranged for the publication of the three sisters’ poems under the title The Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (Aylott and Jones, 1846).  Anne went on to publish two novels under the pseudonym Acton Bell: Agnes Grey (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1848).

Anne died of tuberculosis on May 28, 1849, shortly after the deaths of both Branwell and Emily Brontë.