Best known work

• Jane Eyre, 1847

Genres

• Poetry
• Fiction - Novels

Nom de plume

Currer Bell

Social class

Middle class

Parental background

Although their father was a clergyman and educated, the family were poor and largely home-educated. They were compelled to write for money.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 31
• Marital status: Unmarried
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

Many years after the entire Brontë family had died, Charlotte's publisher and friend, George Smith, wrote his impressions of her and Anne in the Cornhill Magazine. His description of Charlotte was rather unflattering: "I must confess that my first impression of Charlotte Brontë's personal appearance was that it was interesting rather than attractive. She was very small, and had a quaint old-fashioned look. Her head seemed too large for her body. She had fine eyes, but her face was marred by the shape of the mouth and by the complexion. There was but little feminine charm about her." Mary Taylor describes Charlotte when she arrived at Roe Head: "I first saw her coming out of a covered cast, in very old-fashioned clothes, looking very cold and miserable She looked a little, old woman." Charlotte who was very self-conscious of her diminutive size - estimated at around 4'10''

Did you know?

Charlotte Bronte was also only married for nine months before she died. She was pregnant with her first child.

Additional information

The Digital Victorians site has a useful biography as well as the comprehensive details given on the Victorian Web.