Walking with the Ancestors - Literary Connections

Introducing The Madeley Circle

Bronte left Cambridge in 1806 and, after being ordained, took up a curacy in Wethersfield, Essex. He arrived in Shropshire three years later in a move he may have secured through John Nunn (his former college room mate at Cambridge) the curate of St Chad's, Shrewsbury. In Wellington, Bronte served under the Rev John Eyton, a powerful preacher in the evangelist tradition whose sermons were among the first to be published by Houlston's printers. Eyton's own failing health ensured that Bronte was charged with a wide range of duties, both in the town itself and in the nearby parish of Eyton-Upon-The-Weald-Moors where, on one occasion, the young curate made an assessment for the relief of the local poor.

During Bronte's short tenure at All Saints, the friendships of local schoolmaster John Fennell and William Morgan, his fellow curate at the church, proved particularly valuable. Morgan was responsible for introducing Bronte to the 'Madeley Circle', a group of like-minded individuals who met in the nearby town at the home of Mary Fletcher, the widow of prominent Methodist preacher Rev John Fletcher. It is probable that Bronte learnt of and successfully applied for the position of Curate at Dewsbury through the group, whose members included John Crosse, Vicar of Bradford. Yorkshire was regarded as a 'promised land' for those practicing the evangelical tradition and Bronte may eventually have ended up in the county at some point anyway. Indeed, it seems to have been a long-held ambition of the young curate.