Undaunted, the sisters turned their attentions to novel writing, each bringing a unique and highly inventive style to the effort. In 1847 Anne’s labors produced Agnes Grey, published jointly with Emily’s Wuthering Heights in December of that year by Thomas Cautley Newby. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre had been published two months earlier by a more prestigious house, Smith, Elder and Co., to great success, overshadowing her sisters’ novels and surpassing them in acclaim. Less sensational in its subject matter than either Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, Anne’s Agnes Grey received relatively little attention. Nonetheless, Anne began work immediately on her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (published by Newby in 1848), which was a commercial and critical success. The novel’s frank depictions of alcoholism and violence shocked readers but fueled its popularity. Wild speculation about its mysterious authorship prompted Charlotte and Anne to disclose to their publishers their true identities.

In September 1848, Branwell Brontë died, his body destroyed by illness and alcohol. In December, Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis, following a rapid decline. Anne herself became ill with influenza, then tuberculosis. Though weak and frail, she determined to travel once more to her beloved Scarborough, ostensibly for the curative powers of the sea air. The trip proved her last; Anne Brontë died on May 28, 1849, and was buried in Scarborough.

The World of Anne Brontë and Agnes Grey

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1820 Anne Brontë is born on January 17, in Thornton, York- shire. She is the sixth and last child of Patrick and Maria Branwell Brontë; her father is a curate. The family moves from Thornton to Haworth. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound and Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe are published. George III dies, and George IV is crowned king.
1821 Maria Branwell Brontë dies of cancer. Elizabeth Branwell , her sister, comes to Haworth to care for the family. She and Anne become particularly close.
1824 Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë attend Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge. The Athenaeum Club is founded in London; the National Gallery opens.
1825 In May, Anne’s oldest sister, Maria, dies of tuberculosis. The second oldest, Elizabeth, dies shortly thereafter. Charlotte and Emily are withdrawn from school. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is first performed in England .
1830 George IV dies and is succeeded by William IV. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Poems, Chiefly Lyrical is published. American poet Emily Dickinson is born.
1831 Charlotte attends Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head, Mirfield. A cholera epidemic begins in eastern Europe and spreads throughout the continent.
1832 Lewis Carroll is born. Charlotte leaves Roe Head to teach her sisters at home.
1835 Charlotte returns to Roe Head as a teacher, taking
Emily along as a student; the latter stays only briefly, and Anne replaces her.
1836 Anne writes a poem, “Verses by Lady Geralda,” set in the imaginative world of Gondal. Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers- is published.
1837 While at Roe Head School, Anne becomes very ill, sparking the concern of her sister Charlotte. William IV dies; Queen Victoria is crowned.
1838 Branwell establishes himself as a portrait painter in Bradford but returns home less than a year later. Emily works briefly as a teacher at Miss Patchett’s School at Law Hill, near Halifax. Charlotte leaves her teaching post at Roe Head.
1839 Anne becomes employed as a governess at Blake Hall, home of the Ingham family in Mirfield; her duties include the education of the Ingham’s eldest children. William Weightman becomes an assistant curate to Patrick Brontë.