‘The descendants of my grandfather, William Brontë, alone perpetuate the name’: John Brontë of County Down and New Zealand

Abstract

John Brontë was a grandson of the Reverend Patrick Brontë’s eldest brother, William. John publicly endorsed Dr William Wright’s The Brontës in Ireland (1893) during a debate on that book’s merits and its claims regarding the Irish influences on the Brontës’ novels. This paper presents new research on the life of John Brontë and the role he played in supporting Wright. A copy of The Brontës in Ireland, inscribed to John by the author, has come to light and evidences a meeting between the two men in Haworth days after Wright made a last attempt to defend his work. Although John Brontë was a credible witness with a persuasive character, his support for Wright was ignored. In the context of recently renewed interest in The Brontës in Ireland, it is timely to revisit John’s contribution. This paper also examines a second book which was passed on through John’s family: annotations by John’s daughter, Catherine, on a copy of Clement Shorter’s The Brontës and their Circle (1896) suggest the possibility that the Brontës of County Down and Arthur Bell Nicholls’ family of Country Antrim were known to each other.