Giant People:
Patrick Bronte

Patrick Brönte was an Irish-born clergyman best remembered as the father of one of the world’s most famous literary dynasties: Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brönte. A published poet in his own right, he was the first member of the illustrious family in print.

The Wellington Connection

Brönte came to England in 1802 to study Theology at St John’s College Cambridge. Following his graduation, he was ordained and in 1809 secured a position as an assistant curate in Wellington. One of the principal attractions of coming to Shropshire was the presence at All Saints parish church of Reverend John Eyton, a fellow graduate of St John’s and rising star of the evangelical cause — to which Brönte was a devotee.

Why Is It Important

When Brönte arrived in Wellington, the town was establishing a reputation as a provincial publishing hub. At its centre was the firm of F Houlston and Son, in Market Square. It was quick to jump on the evangelical revival sweeping the area, and Reverend Eyton’s sermons were among its earliest publications. In 1811, Houlston’s published Cottage Poems, the first of two small volumes of poetry by Brönte (The Rural Minstrel would follow in 1813). The young curate, however, had long since left Wellington by that point, his posting lasting just less than one calendar year. Nevertheless, it was through the friendships he made in the town that he not only secured a move to the evangelists’ promised land of Yorkshire but also met his future wife Maria Branwell.

Giant Steps

All Saints parish church, which was rebuilt a little over a decade before Patrick Brönte arrived in Wellington, is largely unchanged from the building he would have recognised. During his short stay the young curate lived with Reverend Eyton’s family at their edge-of-town Georgian vicarage. Sadly, it was demolished in the 1960s but a former entrance lodge to the house survives on the corner of New Church Road and Roseway. Owing to Reverend Eyton’s persistent ill-health, Brönte took on many extra responsibilities during his residency. Those duties encompassed ministering to the parishioners of nearby Eyton upon the Weald Moors, where St Catherine’s church continues to serve the tiny settlement on the edge of the east Shropshire moorlands.

Elsewhere

To read a short history of All Saints Parish Church and its cultural connections.

Elsewhere

To read a short history of All Saints Parish Church and its cultural connections.