Final thoughts.

Back from honeymoon and time for Charlotte to admire her beautiful wedding day bonnet before storing it carefully away in the parsonage.

After 34 days away the newlyweds probably wearily climbed the stairs of the

                         parsonage to the bedroom they would only get to share for the next 8 months.

Charlotte and Arthur were back in Haworth on 1st August 1854. But there was no rest for a busy Charlotte and Arthur. As Charlotte wrote in a letter to Ellen Nussey on 9th August 1854:

"Since I came home I have not had an unemployed moment; my life is changed indeed - to be continually wanted - to be continually called for and occupied seems so strange: yet it is a marvellously good thing...As far as my experience of matrimony goes - I think it tends to draw you out of, and away from yourself."

She also wrote the following in a letter to Margaret Wooler on 19th September 1854: "My own life is more occupied than it used to be.: I have not so much time for thinking:...

Charlotte seemed to have found happiness in her marriage as can be seen in letters she wrote to her friend Ellen Nussey and to Margaret Wooler her old headmistress, employer and friend.

In her letter to Margaret Wooler on 22nd August 1854 Charlotte wrote to tell her that, in mid August, she and Arthur had thrown a Tea and Supper party  for 500 villagers, Sunday and day-school scholars, church ringers and singers in the school-room just down the lane from the Parsonage to "thank them for their good-will and the hearty welcome shown to him (Arthur) upon his return". She said that one villager in proposing Arthur's health had described him as "a consistent Christian and a kind gentleman." Charlotte told Margaret Wooler that "I am disposed to echo that high but simple eulogism now. If I can do so with sincerity and conviction seven years- or even a year hence - I shall esteem myself a happy woman."

In the letter to Margaret Wooler of 19th September 1854 she again made reference to her happy state writing about Arthur:

 "As to his continued affection and kind attention - it does not become me to say much of them but as yet they neither change nor diminish."

From not being sure if Arthur was the right man for her prior to marrying him, Charlotte now feels needed, is always busy and is appreciative of and appears to be happy with her new husband. The honeymoon, lasting for 34 days, in which they travelled together in North Wales and across Ireland, seems to have given them the time to get to know each other better. Arthur, the practical not poetical man, obviously took care of their itinerary and travel arrangements, which Charlotte found refreshing and made the most of. He introduced her to his lively, loving and educated family - she wasn't expecting them to be like this and so was pleasantly surprised. They welcomed and embraced her into their family as one of their own.

Charlotte saw many new sides to her husband whilst they were on honeymoon and was evidently happy and, no doubt, relieved that he was such a good and solicitous partner. In a letter to Margaret Wooler dated 15th November 1854 she wrote,

"My life is different to what it used to be. May God make me thankful for it! I have a good, kind, attached husband and every day makes my own attachment to him stronger".

As this attachment to Arthur grew, on 26th December 1854, she sent good wishes in a letter to Ellen Nussey for a happy Christmas. Unbeknown to everyone, this would be her last ever Christmas. She wrote,

"He (Arthur) is well - thank God - and so am I - and he is 'my dear boy' - certainly dearer now than he was six months ago - in three days we shall actually have been married that length of time!"

Charlotte was also delighted that her dear papa and husband both seemed to be getting along very well after all of the angst, rancour and upset prior to their wedding day. In a letter to Mrs Joe Taylor on 21st January 1855 she said,

"It is an hourly happiness to me dear Amelia to see how well Arthur and my Father get on together now - there has never been a misunderstanding or wrong word".

In the letter to Margaret Wooler she even commented that her health was so much better since being married,

"We are all - indeed - pretty well - and for my own part - it is long since I have known such comparative immunity from headache, sickness and indigestion, as during the last three months".

To Ellen Nussey on 19th January 1855 she again mentioned her good health,

"My health has been very good ever since my return from Ireland - till about ten days ago, ..."

It is so painful then that, having found happiness, harmony and better health since her marriage, Charlotte then became so very ill. Nevertheless, only having the strength to write with a pencil, she still manages to write to friends to extol her wonderful husband of nearly eight months. To Laetitia Wheelwright, her schoolfriend in Brussels, on 15th February 1855 she says,

"No kinder, better husband than mine, it seems to me, can there be in the world. I do not want now for kind companionship in health and the tenderest nursing in sickness".

Arthur's caring and nursing skills are reminiscent of those Charlotte enjoyed from his Irish Aunt Harriet at their family home in Banagher at the beginning of their honeymoon when Charlotte arrived quite poorly at their Cuba Court home.

To Ellen Nussey on 21st February 1855 she wrote, not about her illness and sufferings but to say,

" - I want to give you an assurance which I know will comfort you - and that is I find in my husband the tenderest nurse, the kindest support - the best earthly comfort that ever woman had. His patience never fails and it is tried by sad days and Broken nights..."

To Mrs Joe Taylor in February 1855 she wrote,

"Dear Amelia,

Let me speak the plain truth - my sufferings are very great  my nights indescribable - sickness with scarce a reprieve - I strain until what I vomit is mixed with blood. Medicine I have quite discontinued - If you can send me anything that will do good - do.

As to my husband - my heart is knit to him - he is so tender, so good, helpful, patient."

As we know, Charlotte passed away on 31st March 1855,  nine months and two days after her wedding.

Arthur and Patrick were left distraught and bereft with Arthur finally returning to welcoming Banagher six years later in 1861 after he had stayed at the parsonage in Haworth to be with and care for his father-in-law until the latter's death.

Arthur returned to Ireland, a place where he and his brother had been happy as children, being brought up by his aunt and uncle in a home of lively cousins. Ireland was also a place of happiness to Arthur because it was where he had taken his new bride, the woman he had fought to marry, when it seemed not only her father, but she herself, were against the match.

But how wrong can some people be? How wonderful was the match? Maybe a match made, not only in  heaven, but also in North Wales and Ireland.

The trip I undertook with my Bronte travelling companion Alison following, as best we could, in the honeymoon footsteps of Charlotte and Arthur, was quite an incredible and a memorable one. We packed in a lot more than our honeymoon couple did, touring around County Clare and the stunning Burren National Park, visiting the beautiful Dingle peninsula and the dramatic Ring of Kerry. We were able to get further thanks to being in a car. What saddens me, however, is that, when the newlyweds left Ireland for Haworth, they probably thought they would be able to return again and again to see and stay with Arthur's family but also to go off, the two of them, to explore different parts of this wonderful island like we did. Maybe Arthur would have organised to show Charlotte more of the country that both he and her father Patrick had been born and raised in. But as we know, this would never come to pass.

Take a look at the following Ring of Kerry and Valentia Island video of our trip and just think how much Charlotte and Arthur would have enjoyed these sights had her life not been cut short so young. 

Ring of Kerry and Valentia Island

Following in Charlotte's and Arthur's honeymoon footsteps was not the easiest of trips because neither of them wrote much about where they had been and what they had seen. Alison and I were helped by the fortuitous publication in 2021 of two books about the honeymoon; one a well researched historical novel by Irish novelist Pauline Clooney called Charlotte & Arthur published by Merdog Books the other, another in-depth non-fiction book by retired Irish Consultant Gynaecologist Dr Michael O'Dowd called Charlotte Bronte An Irish Odyssey - My Heart is Knit to Him - The Honeymoon published by Pardus Media. 

We were in regular WhatsApp communication with both authors who generously answered our many questions and guided us whenever we needed help. It was a joy to meet up with them both and their respective spouses in Banagher, Arthur's hometown,  and sail down the River Shannon in Pauline and husband Dave's river cruiser...just as Charlotte and Arthur had done, but in a turf-powered steamer. In Banagher we were also blessed with meeting local historian James Scully who is a mine of information on all things Bronte in Banagher.

                                   

                                      

                                                

 Alison and I then enjoyed a wonderful day with Michael and Christine in breath taking Kilkee where Charlotte and Arthur spent a week alone together. 

The weather we had in Ireland was unbelievable - wall to wall sunshine and blue skies. Charlotte and Arthur had more mixed weather as can be seen from the following weather table from 1854.

                                                       

Over the years my Bronte travelling companion and I have travelled to many of the places the Brontes went to - we are actually running out of places to visit! Our in the footsteps of the Brontes trip to Brussels was awesome. Our trip to stay at St John's College, Cambridge, Patrick's university college and then on to Wethersfield in Essex where he got his first job was amazing. We've been to the cathedrals and chapels where Arthur and Patrick were ordained, Ripon Cathedal, Fulham Palace and the Chapel Royal in St James' Palace, London. Our trip to Abbotsford, home to Charlotte's literary hero Sir Walter Scott, and to the Scottish borders, as Charlotte enjoyed with her publisher and his sister was delightful. Prowling around Broughton-in-Furness in Branwell's footsteps and heading along the Duddon Valley in Cumbria as he did was a pleasure. Our early morning flight to Belfast from Manchester and the hire car to visit Patrick's birthplace at Emdale, Drumballeyroney, Northern Ireland was epic even if the Bronte visitor centre was closed when we arrived! Maybe I shall blog about some of these trips soon.

But for now, I shall finish this blog with Dr Michael O' Dowd's wonderful video he made about Charlotte and Arthur's Honeymoon narrated by his wife Christine with her gentle Irish lilt. Apart from Michael's belief that our honeymoon couple stayed at Tarbert House, which I am not convinced they did, this video says it all. I am sure you will enjoy it. 

Thank you for following in our footsteps by following this blog. 

The honeymoon video

           

                    " He will not separate us; we have been so happy", whispered Charlotte.