Frances Mary Richardson Currer (3 March 1785 – 28 April 1861) was a British heiress and book collector.

Life

Frances Mary Richardson Currer was born shortly after the death of her father, Henry Richardson Currer in 1785. Shortly before he died, he had added the surname Currer to his own name. This was a condition of a substantial inheritance from Sarah Currer, the grand daughter of Matthew Wilson who had built Eshton Hall. Frances received a further inheritance which included the library of Richard Richardson, her great-grandfather. The Bierley estate she had inherited was the site of mining operations under a lease for mineral rights, for 46 years, granted by Currer in 1800, to Henry Leah. Currer had problems with her hearing throughout her life and she died at Eshton Hall in 1861.

Bibliophile

Frances Currer had always had an interest in books. In 1820 she had a catalogue prepared and privately printed and in 1833 she had

Thomas Hartwell Horne Thomas Hartwell Horne (20 October 1780 – 27 January 1862) was an English theologian and librarian. Life He was born in London and educated at Christ's Hospital until he was 15 when his father died and he had to work. He then became a clerk ...

prepare a second edition which was printed to reflect further changes.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin Thomas Frognall Dibdin (177618 November 1847) was an English bibliographer, born in Calcutta to Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of the composer Charles Dibdin. Dibdin was orphaned at a young age. His father and mother died in 1780 while re ...

wrote in 1838 that her library was one of the best in the country. Althorpe, Chatsworth and Stowe were the only libraries he thought more extensive. Dibdin is quoted as calling her the "head of all female book collectors in Europe." He estimated that the library contained 20,000 books, but Currer was one of his patrons. Dibdin also spoke well of the book collections of

Richard Heber Richard Heber (5 January 1773 – 4 October 1833) was an English book collector. Biography He was born in Westminster, as the eldest son of Reginald Heber, who succeeded his eldest brother as lord of the manors of Marton in Yorkshire and Hodn ...

which were larger than Currer's. Heber and Currer had a close relationship and Heber was bailed out by Currer when he had financial difficulties. Eshton Hall Library

Benefactor

Frances Currer gave money to the North Bierley chapel. Its foundation dated back to Richard Richardson (1708–1781), son of Dr. Richard Richardson, and it had been licensed in 1766. It was only in her time, however, that it was consecrated, in 1824, and she became its patron. It was enlarged at her expense in the following years, and became a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

. She put up a vicarage there in 1827, for

George Stringer Bull George Stringer Bull (1799–1865) was an English missionary and cleric, a social and industrial reformer in the Bradford area. Early life He was the sixth son of the Rev. John Bull (1767–1834) and his wife Margaret Towndrow, born at Stanway i ...

. It is thought that Currer gave

Patrick Brontë Patrick Brontë (, commonly ; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican minister and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte, Emily Bront ...

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 ...

£50 when he became a widower in 1821. Currer donated money to the Clergy Daughter's School in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

that the Brontë sisters attended in 1824–5, and funded the local

mechanics institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult ed ...

. It has been speculated that her philanthropy was the reason that

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 – 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 ...

chose the nom de plume of "Currer Bell" for her 1847 novel ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

''.Wilson Family
North Building Preservation Trust, retrieved 1 November 2014 A figure connecting Bierley and Haworth was James Bardsley. Patrick Brontë hoped in 1833 to have him as curate, but the permission of

Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (10 October 1757 – 5 November 1847) was a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1791 to 1807 and then the Archbishop of York until his death. He was the third son of the George Venables ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, was refused. He became curate at the Bierley chapel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currer, Frances Mary Richardson 1785 births 1861 deaths English book and manuscript collectors 19th-century English landowners 19th-century British women landowners