| 1816 | | Charlotte Brontë was born on 21st April in Thornton, near Bradford, Yorkshire. Her parents were clergyman Patrick Brontë of County Down, Ireland, and Maria Branwell of Cornwall. |
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| 1817 | | Charlotte already had two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. |
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| 1818 | | Emily, like Charlotte, would go on to become a writer. Another sister, Anne, who also wrote, was born two years later. | |
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| 1820 | | The family moved to Haworth parsonage, Yorkshire. | |
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| 1821 | | Charlotte’s mother died on 15th September at the age of 38. Her sister, Elizabeth, came to live at the parsonage until her death in 1842. |
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| 1824 | | They attended Cowan Bridge School. |
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| 1825 | | The sisters died from tuberculosis contracted at school. |
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| 1831–1832 | | Her new school was 20 miles from Haworth. Emily came with her initially, but returned home some months later suffering from homesickness. |
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| 1835 | | She experienced bouts of depression and ill health while teaching there, and eventually returned to Haworth in December 1938. |
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| 1839, 1841 | | Charlotte held two different posts as a governess. |
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| 1842 | | With Emily, Charlotte boarded as a pupil at Pensionnat Héger, Brussels. |
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| 1843 | | Charlotte experienced great homesickness, but was also distraught to leave her relationship with M Héger, which became an increasingly significant and deeply felt attachment for Charlotte. |
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| 1844 | | He would become Charlotte’s husband 10 years later. |
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| 1846 | | Charlotte, Emily and Anne used the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Charlotte also started to write Jane Eyre. |
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| 1847 | |
| 1848 | | Both died from tuberculosis, Branwell in September and Emily in December, followed by Anne in 1849. |
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| 1849 | | Charlotte also visited London and the Lakes in 1849 and 1850, making literary friends. |
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| 1853 | | The novel was a reworking of Charlotte’s first novel, The Professor, which wasn’t itself published until after her death. |
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| 1854 | | Charlotte married Rev. A B Nicholls. |
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| 1855 | | She experienced extreme hyperemis gravidarum (persistent vomiting in pregnancy). |
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| 1857 | | Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë was also published. |
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| 1861 | | Patrick died, having outlived his wife and all six of his children. |
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