Brontë, Anne (1820–1849)
Brontë, Anne (1820–1849)
English author. Name variations: (pseudonym) Acton Bell. Born Anne Brontë at Thornton, near Bradford, Yorkshire, Jan 1820; died of consumption in Scarborough, May 28, 1849; dau. of Maria Branwell Brontë and Reverend Patrick Brontë (cleric-author).
Victorian author of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was the youngest of the Brontë sisters; mother died within months of her birth; with elder sister Emily, developed a world called Gondal; served for 4 years as governess to Robinson family at Thorp Green (1835–39), where she witnessed brother Branwell's attempts to seduce Mrs. Robinson; with sisters Charlotte and Emily, published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846); published Agnes Grey based on a brief experience as governess to the Ingham family (1847); wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as a warning against the type of existence that claimed her brother's life; contracted consumption after the deaths of her brother and sister Emily; journeyed to the seaside with Charlotte in hopes of a cure, but damp air hastened her demise; was buried in Scarborough within 6 months of Emily's death; embraced a staunchly religious view in her life and work.
See also Ernest Dimnet, The Brontë Sisters (trans. by Louise Morgan Sill, Harcourt, 1928); Rebecca Fraser, The Brontës (Fawcett, 1988); Janet Barker, The Brontës (St. Martin, 1995); and Women in World History.