Patrick Brontë

Born in County Down, Ireland, on March 17, 1777, Patrick Brontë was raised in modest circumstances and went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge. He became an Anglican clergyman and spent most of his working life in England, eventually serving for decades as the curate of Haworth in Yorkshire.

He also wrote and published his own poetry and prose, though history remembers him most closely through his remarkable family. Patrick encouraged the education of his children, including Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell Brontë, and he remained a central presence in the Haworth household through years marked by creativity as well as repeated personal loss.

After outliving his wife and all six of his children, he died at Haworth on June 7, 1861. His life has lasting interest not just because of the famous daughters he supported, but because he helped shape one of literature's most extraordinary family worlds.