Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Anne’s employers from April 1839 until probably the Christmas holidays. Joshua (1802–66), the father, was of a puritan, stern, and unsympathetic nature, sharing an antipathy for female vanity and ostentation with the Rev. Carus Wilson. He was of a family of business people, and was prominent in the Mirfield area as a magistrate and colliery owner. Twelve years after Anne’s stay he was prosecuted for manslaughter over the death of a child of four run over by one of the colliery wagons, but eventually no evidence was offered and he was found not guilty. His wife Mary (1812–99) was the daughter of Ellis Cunliffe-Lister, MP for Bradford. She was described by Charlotte on Anne’s authority as “extremely kind” and “mild” (to EN, 15 Apr 1839 and 24 Jan 1840). However, she gave her no authority to exact discipline, with the result that the children, already spoilt, became still worse in their behavior. The two eldest children Joshua Cunliffe, aged six, and Mary, aged five, were Anne’s pupils. Still in the nursery were Martha, Emily, and Henrietta (Harriet) who died aged one year about the time Anne left ( Leeds Intelligencer , 7 Dec 1839). In succeeding years Mary Ingham produced further children with dismal regularity, though several died in infancy. Susan Brooke gives further information about the later fates of the Ingham children in “Anne Brontë at Blake Hall” (BST, v. 13, pt 68, 1958), ... log in or subscribe to read full text