Walking with the Ancestors - Literary Connections

Reader, He Married Her!

Once in Yorkshire, Bronte's Wellington connections continued to play a pivotal role in his life. John Fennell, his other close friend from the town, also moved north and became head of Woodhouse Grove, a Wesleyan Methodist boarding school at Rawdon, on the outskirts of Leeds. Bronte had moved from Dewsbury to nearby Hartshead by 1812 and was invited by Fennell to examine his pupils abilities in Classics and it was while visiting the school that he met his future wife Maria Branwell, a teacher there. By this time, William Morgan had also moved to Yorkshire where he became curate to John Crosse at Bradford. He had begun a relationship with Branwell's cousin, providing another association which appears to have aided the course of true love and helped secure the foundation of the future literary dynasty. So, while Wellington may not be able to lay claim to being in 'Bronte country', it was almost certainly responsible for putting Patrick Bronte there in the first place!