When Patrick Brontë died at the age of 84, in 1861, he had outlived not only his wife (by 40 years) but all six of his children. [1]
Patrick Brontë was born Patrick Brunty (or Prunty) on 17 March 1777 in a small village called Drumballyroney, County Down, Ireland. He is known primarily as the father of the poets and novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë.
Patrick was the eldest of the ten children of Hugh Brunty and his wife Elinor. The family was “large and very poor”, owning only four books (including two copies of the Bible) and subsisting on “porridge, potatoes, buttermilk and bread”. Patrick had to work hard from a young age to help support his family. He was an intelligent and ambitious young man, with a strong desire to succeed.
After some failed apprenticeships and a short time as a teacher, Patrick won a scholarship to study theology at St John’s College, Cambridge when he was 25. Here he was first registered as Patrick “Branty” or “Brunty” before formally changing the spelling of his name to Brontë. No one is certain why he did this.
After completing his studies, Patrick was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England, commencing with a curacy in Essex before moving to Shropshire then Yorkshire. In 1809 he met Maria Branwell, a young woman from a wealthy family and soon proposed marriage. They were married on 29 December 1812 and went on to have six children.
While Patrick Brontë was not primarily known as a writer, he did write some poetry and prose throughout his life. In 1810 his first published poem, Winter Evening Thoughts, appeared in a local newspaper, followed in 1811 by a collection of moral verses, Cottage Poems.