New film about Charlotte Brontë’s Wedding Settlement to be premiered in Offaly

MANY Irish people are unaware that the English novelist, Charlotte Bronte was married to an Irish-man, Arthur Bell Nicholls from Banagher.

Charlotte was the only one of her siblings to marry and we are lucky enough to have her dramatic first-hand account of Arthur's proposal and her father, the Rev Patrick Brontë's staunch opposition to this union. In fact Arthur broached the subject of marriage on Monday December 13th 1852 and there followed a tsunami of events before the couple eventually became engaged. Their marriage took place on June 29th 1854.

Her father put many obstacles in the couple's way. He even tried to sabotage the wedding by declaring, on the evening before the ceremony, that he was 'indisposed' and unable to attend. So, in the absence of any other male relatives, who would give the bride away?

Luckily, Charlotte had her two best friends staying in the Parsonage with her, Ellen Nussey (her bridesmaid) and her mentor, Margaret Wooler. The ladies put their thinking caps on and looked up the Book of Common Prayer (a religious text book). They discovered that the person who conducted the bride up the aisle did not have to be male and so, Margaret Wooler, Charlotte's former teacher, took up that role and the wedding went ahead at 8am on the following morning.

One must remember at that time, marriage was a social, religious and legal contract. Prior to the wedding, on May 24th, a group including Charlotte, Arthur, the bride's father Patrick, the trustee Joe Taylor and Charlotte's solicitor, assembled in the Parsonage at Haworth to sign a legal document known as the Wedding Settlement. Who instigated this contract? Why was this a necessary step? Where did Charlotte's money come from? What was the legal standing of women at that time under English law?

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To answer these questions I brought my camera along to the Parsonage Museum in Haworth (home of the Brontës) to interview an expert in this field. Their Principal Curator, Ann Dinsdale kindly retrieved the Wedding Settlement parchment from the archives and unpacked the story behind it.

This film will be premiered in Banagher on August 17th of August 2025 at 2.30pm as part of the Heritage Week festivities. Ann Dinsdale will be present at Crank House, Main Street and Q & A afterwards should be fascinating.