Today’s blog post will be shorter than intended. I hope you will forgive me, a family illness has taken me away from my laptop and my website, as of course it must.
I do want, however, to pay tribute to Martha Taylor who died on this day in 1842. Martha was the younger sister of Mary Taylor of Red House, Gomersal (that’s it at the head of this post) and she too had become a friend of Charlotte Brontë after they met at Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head, Mirfield. Charlotte became very fond of Martha who was known affectionately as “Miss Boisterous” by her classmates.
Martha was sent, with Mary, by her family to the exclusive Chateau de Koekelberg school outside Brussels, and this was one of the factors that made Charlotte decide to attend the Pensionnat Heger school in Brussels. No doubt she hoped to see much of the sisters she was so close to, but alas Martha contracted cholera aged 23 and died on 12th October 1842. It was a devastating blow for Charlotte, and she referred to it twice in her novel Shirley in which Martha Taylor is recreated as Jessy Yorke:
We get an idea of Martha’s character from this letter she sent from Roe Head school to Ellen Nussey:
Martha’s grave in Brussels was concreted over, but she has a memorial in Gomersal, West Yorkshire. Charlotte’s fine tribute to Martha lies at its foot: “Much loved was she, much loving.” I hope you are all in good health and full of harvest happiness, and I hope to see you next week for another new Brontë blog post.