Happy Birthday Branwell Bronte

There is a painting I own which my father jokingly says was done by Branwell Bronte. It is shockingly bad and rarely displayed. Branwell would have been 195 today and so happy birthday from one of weak Irish descent who likes the odd drink to another of stronger Irish descent who liked more than the odd drink . Who you may ask is Branwell and why do I care?

Branwell was one of four Bronte children to make it past childbirth/infancy. While his three sisters were literary geniuses and a virtuous bunch, Branwell wanted to be an artist but was noted mainly as a drunk. The Black Bull in Haworth was his second home and he died early and broken but was a great loss to his sisters, none of whom lived to any great age either.

My father’s post grad work was on the Bronte sisters and he has written several books on the subject. As children we would often visit Haworth staying with a saintly woman Joanna Hutton who ran the Bronte bookshop opposite the Black Bull which is, conveniently for Branwell, located next door to the Parsonage where the Reverend Bronte and his family lived. Even today my father heads off now and again to speak to the Bronte society. His most recent gig was over in Northern Ireland from where the Reverend Bronte (father to the family and a man who outlived all his offspring) came.

Branwell would not have amounted to much even had he not had his problems with the bottle. He may have had glamour and panache of sorts but there is no evidence of talent. All in all a rather sad tale. But happy birthday anyway.