Ellen Nussey
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Ellen Nussey (20 April 1817 – 26 November 1897) was born in Birstall Smithies in the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. She was a lifelong friend, of writer
Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 â€“ 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ), was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë family, Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novel ...
and, through more than 500 letters received from her, was a major influence for
Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer detailed studies of Victorian era, Victoria ...
's 1857 biography '' The Life of Charlotte Brontë''.


Early years

Nussey was the twelfth child of John Nussey (1760–1826), a cloth merchant of Birstall Smithies, near Gomersal in the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
, and his wife Ellen, née Wade (–1857). She attended a small local school before progressing to Gomersal Moravian Ladies Academy. Nussey met Mary Taylor and Charlotte Brontë in January 1831, when they were
pupil The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black becau ...
s at Roe Head School, near
Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road (Great B ...
in Yorkshire. They corresponded regularly over the next 24 years, each writing hundreds of letters to the other. In 1839, Nussey's brother, Henry, proposed marriage to Brontë, but she found him dull and refused his offer.


Friendship with the Brontës

Through her frequent visits to the
Parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...
at
Haworth Haworth ( , , ) is a village in West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines south-west of Keighley, 8 miles (13 km) north of Halifax, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhop ...
, Nussey also became a friend of
Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...
and
Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Brontà ...
, and was accepted as a suitable friend for his daughters by their
father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...
. In May 1849, Anne decided to visit
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
in the hope that the change of location and fresh sea air might be good for her failing health, and give her a chance to live. She went with Charlotte and Nussey. Before the trip, Anne expressed her frustration over unfulfilled ambitions in a letter to Ellen: En route, they spent a day and a night in
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, where, escorting Anne around in a wheelchair, they did some shopping, and at Anne's request, visited
York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...
. It became clear that Anne had little strength left and on Sunday, 27 May 1849, she asked Charlotte whether it would be easier for her to go home to die instead of remaining at Scarborough. A doctor, consulted the next day, indicated that death was already close. Anne received the news quietly. She expressed her love and concern for Nussey and Charlotte, and seeing Charlotte's distress, whispered to her to "take courage".Barker, ''The Brontës'', p. 594 Nussey's presence during the weeks following gave comfort to Charlotte Brontë, who was writing her novel '' Shirley'' at the time. Nussey believed that the character Caroline Helstone was based on herself. Nussey was staying with the Brontës at Haworth on the night of the 1851 census and is shown on the return as "visitor". When Charlotte Brontë married her father's
curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...
, Arthur Bell Nicholls in June 1854, Nussey was one of two witnesses present. Their engagement had caused a cooling in the friendship on Nussey's part, who was probably jealous of Brontë's attachment to Nicholls, having thought they would remain spinsters. After Charlotte's death Nicholls became concerned that her letters to Nussey might damage her reputation and asked Nussey to destroy them, but she refused. Nussey sought to have the letters from Charlotte published until she learned that Nicholls held the copyright. After edited selections from more than 350 letters from Charlotte Brontë to Nussey were used in Gaskell's '' The Life of Charlotte Brontë'', he prevented at least one other publication from using them.


Death and legacy

After Charlotte's death in 1855, Nussey devoted the rest of her life to maintaining the memory of her friend, and was often sought out by Brontë enthusiasts and biographers. Nussey experienced both health and financial issues in her final years and friends, including her cousin's wife, Agnes Nussey of Potternewton Hall provided her with companionship. Agnes was interested in the Nussey family history and corresponded with Ellen. Nussey died in 1897, aged 80, at Moor Lane House in Gomersal in Yorkshire. Following her death, her possessions and letters were dispersed at auction, and many of Charlotte Brontë's letters to her have made their way, by way of donation or purchase, to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth in Yorkshire. Nussey Avenue in Birstall is named after her. Nussey was the great-aunt of Helen Georgiana Nussey (1875–1965), a welfare worker.


Brontë letters

Charlotte Brontë held lifelong correspondence with her former schoolmate Ellen Nussey. Over 350 of the some 500 letters sent by Brontë to Nussey survive, whereas all of Nussey's letters to Brontë were burned at Nicholls's request. The surviving letters provide most of the information known on Charlotte Brontë's life and are the backbone of her biographies. Brontë's letters to Nussey seem to have romantic undertones:


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Nussey in the Brontë Parsonage Museum Index
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061004065423/http://www.historytoherstory.org.uk/index.php?targetid=9 Nussey on History to Herstory* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20121125093044/http://www.annebrontescarborough.co.uk/ Nussey and the death of Anne Brontëbr>Catalogue of Nussey's letters
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Nussey, Ellen 1817 births 1897 deaths People from Gomersal Women of the Victorian era