author
Patrick Brontë
1777–1861
Best known as the father of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, he was also a writer in his own right—an Irish-born clergyman whose long life at Haworth was closely tied to one of literature’s most remarkable families.
1 Audiobook
Cottage Poems
by Patrick Brontë
About the author
Born in County Down, Ireland, in 1777, Patrick Brontë was an Anglican clergyman and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, and later became perpetual curate at Haworth, the Yorkshire parish most closely associated with the Brontë family.
He published poetry, prose, and pamphlets, though he is remembered most widely today through his family connection: he was the father of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell Brontë. Accounts from the Brontë Parsonage Museum also note that he encouraged his children’s education, helping to shape the imaginative world in which their writing developed.
Patrick Brontë outlived his wife Maria Branwell and all six of their children, and he died in 1861. His life links the famous Brontë novels to the real household behind them: a hardworking parish priest, a determined self-made scholar, and a steady presence in Haworth for decades.