A special wedding anniversary was celebrated at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth on Saturday December 29: the 200th wedding anniversary of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne's parents, Maria & Patrick Brontë. A day of free activities took place to mark the happy day the coupled married at Guiseley Church.
‘Mrs Bronte’, in a replica 1812 wedding dress, toured the Museum all day, giving short talks about Maria and Patrick's courtship and wedding, holding special play sessions for children, and allowing visitors the chance to handle genuine antique items of clothing. What's more, every visitor was offered free wedding cake and Champagne to celebrate.
Ann Dinsdale, the Museum's Collections Manager, told how Patrick and Maria had a passionate whirlwind romance. “They met when Maria – who was from Penzance – was visiting relatives in West Yorkshire,” she said. “Her uncle was headmaster of Woodhouse Grove School and Patrick was an examiner in classics there.
“Quite a few of her love letters survive and they are quite passionate – she refers to him as ‘my dear saucy Pat’. They were married on December 29, 1812, within a few months of meeting.”
Maria’s cousin, Jane, was bridesmaid and Patrick’s friend and fellow clergyman, William Morgan, officiated.
The couple and their family moved from Thornton – birthplace of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell – to Haworth in 1820. But Maria died, aged 38, about 18 months later. Patrick went on to outlive all his children. He was 84 when he died in 1861.
There was also a full peal of bells at Haworth Parish Church at 3pm to mark the anniversary, which was also the 39th wedding anniversary of the current priest-in-charge, the Rev Peter Mayo-Smith, and his wife Eileen.