Valentine’s Love In The Bronte Parsonage

All you need is love, said a famous and fabulous foursome. Today we’re going to be looking at another fab four who received some love on this weekend in 1840: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë and their friend Ellen Nussey.

Ellen was staying as a guest of the Brontës as Valentine’s Day of that year arrived. Doubtless all would have been expecting a day like any other, with no cards to brighten their day, but their father’s assistant curate William Weightman had other ideas. Knowing that the Brontë sisters had never received a Valentine’s card in their lives, he set about writing personalised verse for all three sisters and for their guest.

His labours didn’t stop there, as he then walked all the way from Haworth to Bradford to post the cards so the postmark wouldn’t give away that he had sent them. That’s a walk of 18 miles, there and back, across undulating moors and, let’s face it, probably in terrible weather too. That’s dedication. That’s kindness.

It didn’t take too long, despite this, for those perceptive Brontës to work out who had sent the cards, and they then sent him a poem back in return which read thus:

“We cannot write or talk like you;
We’re plain folks every one;
You’ve played a clever trick on us,
We thank you for the fun.
Believe us frankly when we say
(Our words though blunt are true).
At home, abroad, by night or day,
We all wish well to you.”

If Charlotte (for this reply has all the hallmarks of her correspondence) thought that she and her sisters could not write verse like Weightman did, then he must have been a fine wordsmith indeed! Alas, we do not have any of the poems within the cards, or the cards themselves although I have put images of some Victorian Valentine’s cards throughout this post. What we do have is the titles of three of the poems William Weightman crafted thanks to a letter Charlotte sent to Ellen after the event:

‘Walk up to Gomersal and tell her [Mary Taylor] forthwith every individual occurrence you can recollect, including Valentines, “Fair Ellen, Fair Ellen” – “Away Fond Love”, “Soul Divine” and all.’

I think it’s safe to conclude that Charlotte left the title of her own poem out of her letter, so we will never know its name. “Fair Ellen, Fair Ellen” is clearly for Ellen Nussey; “Soul Divine” seems fitting for Emily Brontë, and so “Away Fond Love” could be for Anne who was preparing to depart for her work as a governess.

I don’t think Weightman’s cards were meant as a joke, I think he simply wanted to bring some romance and happiness in the lives of the sisters and their friend – and well done to him for that.

Today is a rather romantic day for me too, as today marks the first anniversary of my wedding to my beautiful wife Yvette. We are celebrating by heading to York, a city much loved by us and by Anne Brontë who lived nearby for over five years when a governess to the Robinson family of Thorp Green Hall.

Upon my return I will be refreshing this website slightly and bringing news of some other changes to this blog – don’t worry, it’s all positive and I will be bringing you even more Brontë coverage. I hope you can join me next Thursday for more news on that, and next Sunday for another new Brontë blog post.