Blackwell Reference Online

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Haworth woman who nursed Maria Brontë during her last illness in 1821. She was dismissed by Patrick, and this dismissal had long-lasting consequences when she talked to Mrs Gaskell, who was searching for material for the Life . Wright got her own back on Patrick by telling her stories which suggested eccentricity or worse, including cutting up a too showy dress of Maria’s (while she was on her deathbed?), burning the children’s shoes, and so on. The story that he denied them meat in their diet was particularly damaging to him, suggesting as it did to the Victorian mind that he thus weakened their constitutions. At this time Wright was living in Burnley, and was introduced to Mrs Gaskell through Lady Kay-Shuttleworth. She later returned to Haworth, living, like so many of those known to the short-lived Brontë children, to a ripe old age. See Ann Dinsdale, “Mrs Brontë’s Nurse” (BS, v. 30, pt 2, Nov. 2005). ... log in or subscribe to read full text