Would you like to donate to the Brontë Parsonage Museum Appeal?

                     Daphne du Maurier                                                                                      Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë

Many charitable organisations have been struggling financially since the coronavirus came into our lives, and many of you will have already given generously, to help those that are dear to your heart.

The Brontë Society is one such organisation that is currently struggling.  Because the Brontës were so dear to Daphne du Maurier’s heart, it seems right to give this appeal a mention here on her website, in the hope that some of you would like to make a donation, no matter how small, to help the Brontë Parsonage and all that precious Brontë history to survive.  To donate, please click here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bronteparsonageappeal

Daphne du Maurier enjoyed the Brontë’s writing from a young age and adopted Brontë words such as Gondal/gondaling for her own family’s private language.  Her love of both Cornwall and the Brontës came together when she discovered that Maria Branwell, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne’s mother came from Penzance.  Daphne’s first novel, The Loving Spirit, was written in a style very much like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and was structured around words from Emily’s poetry.  Her most famous novel Rebecca has areas of narrative which are very reminiscent of Jane Eyre.  Later in her writing career, Daphne was asked to write an introduction to a new edition of Wuthering Heights, and later still she wrote an excellent biography of Branwell Brontë.   Then, of course, Justine Picardie gathered all these strands together when she wrote her novel Daphne, which, at its heart, has three narratives, the Brontës, Daphne du Maurier, and a fictional young woman.  So, there are strong links between du Maurier and the Brontës.

Branwell Brontë

The Brontë Society is a registered charity, and although Arts Council England supports them, they rely heavily on income from general admissions, school groups, live events, and retail sales to run and maintain the Museum.  Like every organisation of this type, they closed in March and have only recently reopened, resulting in a considerable loss of expected income, which would usually have kept them afloat during the quieter winter months.  Since reopening keeping visitors and staff safe has been challenging and recovery has been slow.  They are currently painful aware that they might not be financially sound enough to survive into 2021 and so have launched a fundraising appeal.  To donate, please click here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bronteparsonageappeal

                                        The Brontë Parsonage Museum

There is one particularly joyous story which will have been hugely encouraging to the Brontë Society, and that is a generous donation from another literary source.  The estate of the poet, playwright and publisher, T.S. Eliot, now probably best remembered for his poem The Waste Land and his collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, has donated the magnificent sum of £20,000 to the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s appeal.  It is believed that the Bradford millionaire, T.S. Eliot refers to in The Waste Land, is Sir James Roberts, a Yorkshire industrialist and philanthropist, who was a customer at the bank where Elliot worked.  He is the same Sir James Roberts, who bought the Haworth Parsonage and gifted it to The Brontë Society in 1928.  What a wonderful thing that this connection has led to such a generous donation now.

Of course, The Brontë Parsonage Museum Appeal has a long way to go yet, so, if you can help, please do.  To donate, please click here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bronteparsonageappeal

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