We are about to enter a trio of days which were joyous ones in the Brontë story – birthdays worth celebrating, all following hot on the heels after each other. Tuesday is the 210th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, Wednesday marks the 198th anniversary of the birthday of long time Brontë servant Martha Brown, and tomorrow, Monday is the 209th anniversary of the birth of a woman we’re going to look at in today’s blog post: Ellen Nussey.
Ellen was born in Birstall Smithies in the West Riding of Yorkshire on April 20th 1817 – almost exactly a year after the birth of the person she would become forever linked to: Charlotte Brontë. Ellen became Charlotte’s best friend, a shoulder she could cry on, a regular correspondent and visitor to Haworth, chief bridesmaid at her wedding, and more than that: after the death of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë she became the protector and preserver of the Brontë legacy. It’s thanks to Ellen, and the hundreds of letters she kept from Charlotte, that we know so much about the Brontë family – but what do we know about Ellen Nussey?
In today’s post we’re going to look at the Nussey family – in some ways it was very different to the Brontë family, but in other ways it was all too tragically similar.
The first thing to point out is that Ellen’s family was wealthier than Charlotte’s, and they occupied a higher social strata. The Nusseys were mill, factory and property owners across what became known as the Heavy Woolen District – an area which Charlotte Brontë later chose as the setting for her novel Shirley. It was Ellen’s uncles and cousins, however, rather than her own parents who were the owners, and Ellen’s father John Nussey was merely a manager in the operations.
It was for this reason that Ellen were lodgers in family properties, such as Rydings, rather than owning the buildings themselves, and they became even more dependent upon relatives after the death of John Nussey in 1826, but even so they had a comfortable existence, and two of Ellen’s brothers held very prestigious positions at the very top of society.
Ellen was the eleventh and final child of John and Ellen Nussey, and there were 24 years between the births of Ellen and her eldest brother John (named after his father). Ann, the second child of the family died aged 3 in 1798, and then came Joseph, Joshua, Mary (who was known as ‘Mercy’), Richard, William, Sarah, Henry, and George (born 1814) and then, finally, the woman who became so important to the Brontë story.
It was a large family who enjoyed large successes, but which also suffered large tragedies. Sarah (1809-1843) was disabled from birth (although we don’t know the nature of the disability). George (1814-1885), who was much loved by Ellen and Charlotte, suffered mental health problems, and spent the last 40 years of his life in private asylums. Mary (1801-1886) entered a Moravian community similar to a convent and changed her name to Mercy, but after returning home she became a very difficult character to live with, and it was Ellen who had to look after her older sister.
Two of Ellen’s brothers became apothecaries (a cross between a pharmacist and a doctor in today’s terms) and reached the very pinnacles of their profession. John (1793-1862) became Royal Apothecary to King George IV, King William IV and Queen Victoria. William (1807-1838) became joint Royal Apothecary alongside his older brother from 1826. Unfortunately, he too suffered depression and drowned himself in the River Thames aged 31.
Two further brothers of Ellen Nussey became ministers in the church. Joshua (1798-1871) became chaplain to Lord Blaney of Devon. Henry Nussey (1812-1867) became vicar of Hathersage in Derbyshire; at one point he proposed marriage to Charlotte Brontë, and was likely the model for St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre. Tragically, Henry also suffered with his mental health, and took his own life in an asylum called Arden House in Warwickshire.
Ellen certainly knew tragedies, so she could easily empathise with the trials and tribulations Charlotte suffered. Through it all, however, they provided comfort and support to each other. Let us in the coming days say Happy Birthday Ellen Nussey, Happy Birthday Charlotte Brontë and Happy Birthday Martha Brown. I hope you can join me next Sunday for another new Brontë blog post.