Branwell Brontë’s Life and Letters: 1842-1848
The letters of Branwell Brontë
Branwell Brontë’s Life and Letters: 1842-1848
Artwork of Branwell Brontë’s letters: 'Resurgam'
Artwork of Branwell Brontë’s letters: 'Alas! poor Caunt!'
Artwork of Branwell Brontë’s letters: 'Our Lady of Grief'
Artwork of Branwell Brontë’s letters: 'Paradise and Purgatory'
Artwork of Branwell Brontë’s letters: 'Patrick Reid "turned off"' and 'The Rescue of the Punchbowl'
Correspondents in the letters of Branwell Brontë: Leyland
Correspondents in the letters of Branwell Brontë: Grundy and Brown
Letter 1: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 15 May 1842 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/01)
Letter 2: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 29 June 1842 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/02)
Letter 3: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 12 July 1842 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/03)
Letter 4: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 10 August 1842 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/04)
Letter 5: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 22 July 1843 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/05)
Letter 6: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 4 August 1845 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/06)
Letter 7: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 19 August 1845 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/07)
Letter 8: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 10 September 1845 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/08)
Letter 9: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 25 November 1845 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/09)
Letter 10: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 28 April 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/10)
Letter 11: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, June 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/11)
Letter 12: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, c. June - July 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/12)
Letter 13: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 2 July 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/13)
Letter 14: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, October 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/14)
Letter 15: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, c.1847 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/15)
Letter 16: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, c. January 1847 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/16)
'Northangerland' pen and ink sketch (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/17)
Letter 18: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 24 January 1847 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/18)
Letter 19: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, 16 July 1847 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/19)
Letter 20: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, c.1848 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/20)
Letter 21: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Joseph Bentley Leyland, January 1848 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/21)
Letter 22: Letter from Branwell Brontë to an unknown correspondent, 22 May 1846 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/22)
Letter 23: Letter from Branwell Brontë to Francis Henry Grundy, c. 1848 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/23)
Letter 24: Letter from Branwell Brontë to John Brown, c. 1848 (BC MS 19c Brontë/02/01/24)
Bibliography and relevant literature
The letters in this resource were written during a turbulent time in Branwell Brontë's life.
Dated between 1842 and 1848 they cover periods of productive creativity, a scandal, and the subsequent depression and alcoholism that would contribute to his death. The previously unpublished final letters reveal the extent of his deteriorating physical and mental health during the final years of his life.
Letters 1-4 date from a few months after Branwell's dismissal from his position as clerk in chief in charge of Luddenden Foot station (April 1841-March 1842). In the following ten months, Branwell published nine poems. He then left Haworth to become a tutor with the Robinson family at Thorp Green, near York, (January 1843 - July 1845), where he met Lydia Robinson.
Letters 5-8 follow Branwell's dismissal from Thorp Green. The details of his alleged affair with Lydia Robinson, mother to his charge, remain unclear. Branwell certainly believed that Mrs Robinson would marry him on her husband's death, and his distress when she rejected him can be seen in Letter 9. The novels he discusses in Letter 8 would never be completed.
The experience of Branwell's final decline is conveyed in letters 18-24. The final letter begs John Brown to buy five-pence worth of gin for him. It highlights the desperation of Branwell's situation shortly before his death on 24 September 1848, aged just 31.