1777: Patrick Brontë born at Endale, County Down, Ireland

1783: Maria Branwell born at Penzance, Cornwall

1789: Beginning of the French Revolution

1798: Wordsworth and Coleridege publish Lyrical Ballads

1802: Patrick enters St. John's College, Cambridge

1804: Napoleon crowned Emperor of France

1805: Horatio Nelson defeats the French Fleet at The Battle of Trafalger

1806: Patrick ordained into the Church of England

1809: Most turbulent period of the Luddite riots in Yorkshire and Lancashire

1812: Patrick and Maria married at Guiseley, Bradford, West Riding, Yorkshire

1813: Patrick and Maria settle in Hightown, Hartshead, West Riding, Yorkshire; Austen's Pride and Prejudice published

1814: Patrick and Maria have their first child, Maria; Walter Scott's Waverly published

1815: The Brontë's second child, Elizabeth, is born; the Duke of Wellington defeats Napoleon at Waterloo

1816: Charlotte Brontë is born at Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire on April 21; Blackwood's Magazine is founded in Edinburgh, Scotland

1817: The Brontë's fourth child, Branwell, is born at Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire

1818: Emily Brontë is born at Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire on June 30; Frankenstein is published

1820: Anne Brontë is born at Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire on January 17; Patrick is appointed Perpetual Curate of Haworth, West Riding, Yorkshire, and the family moves there; Maria becomes ill, probably with uterine cancer; Shelley's Prometheus Unbound is published

1821: Maria's sister, Elizabeth Branwell, arrives from Penzance, Cornwall to care for her; Maria dies of cancer on September 15 and her sister decides to stay to care for the children; John Keats dies in Rome

1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley dies in Rome

1824: Maria (age 10), Elizabeth (age 9), Charlotte (age 8), and Emily (age 6) enroll at Clergy Daughter's School, Cowan Bridge, Lancashire; Patrick hires Tabitha Aykroyd as family servant

1825: Maria contracts tuberculosis at Cowan Bridge, is sent home, and dies on May 6; Elizabeth contracts tuberculosis at Cowan Bridge, is sent home, and dies on June 15; Charlotte and Emily return to Haworth; first steam passenger railway begins service in England

1826: Patrick purchases a set of 12 wooden soldiers for Branwell; the children invent an imaginary world called Glasstown for the soldiers, producing verse, novels, paintings and homemade books about them

1828: Duke of Wellington becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain

1829: Charlotte and Branwell begin writing the Angrian sagas around the fantasy world of Glasstown and Angria

1831: Charlotte enrolls at Roe Head School, Yorkshire, and meets her lifelong friends, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor; Emily and Anne, in Haworth, begin inventing their fantasy world of Gondal; Sir Walter Scott dies

1834: Charlotte leaves Roe Head School; Coleridge dies

1835: Charlotte returns to Roe Head School as a teacher; Emily enrolls at Roe Head as a student, but her health deteriorates and she returns home; Anne takes Emily's place at Roe Head

1836: Emily writes her earliest surviving poem; Dickens publishes The Pickwick Papers

1837: Charlotte corresponds with the poet laureate, Robert Southey; Branwell tries, unsuccessfully, to pursue a career as an artist; Victoria assumes the throne of England

1838: Charlotte resigns her position at Roe Head School; Emily writes more poetry and takes a position as a teacher at Law Hill School, Yorkshire; Branwell becomes addicted to opium; Anne leaves Roe Head School

1839: Charlotte takes position as governess to the Stonegappe family in Skipton, Yorkshire, but leaves soon thereafter; Emily resigns from Law Hill School; Branwell sinks into alcoholism and debt; Anne takes position as governess to the Ingham family in Mirfield, Yorkshire

1840: Anne resigns her position with the Ingham family and takes another position as governess to the Robinson family in Little Ouseburn, Yorkshire; Charlotte composes some poetry, which she sends to Hartley Coleridge, son of the late poet, for an opinion; Branwell takes a position as tutor for a family in the Lake District, but is dismissed shortly thereafter for unknown reasons; Victoria and Albert are married

1841: Branwell takes position as clerk-in-charge at Luddenden Foot Station for the Leeds-Manchester Railway; Charlotte, Emily and Anne hit upon the idea of opening their own school out of their home

1842: Branwell is dismissed from his job at the railroad and sinks further into alcoholism, opium-addiction and debt; Charlotte and Emily enroll at Pensionnat Heger in Brussels, funded by their Aunt Elizabeth Branwell; Aunt Branwell dies on October 29, at which point Charlotte and Emily return from Brussels

1845: Anne leaves her position as governess in Little Ouseburn and returns home, where she writes Agnes Grey; Charlotte, Emily and Anne submit poetry to various publishers

1846: Aylott & Jones publishes Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell- the publication is funded by the sisters, costing them 30 pounds; Charlotte finishes The Professor, but it remains unpublished after six rejections; Charlotte starts writing Jane Eyre; Emily writes Wuthering Heights

1847: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey are published under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; Jane Eyre is one of the most successful books of the year, while Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey meet with mixed success; Thackeray publishes Vanity Fair

1848: Charlotte travels to London for the first time; Anne publishes The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as Acton Bell- it is immediately denounced as profane and grotesque; Branwell dies of tuberculosis on September 24 and is buried in Haworth Church; Emily dies of tuberculosis on December 19 and is buried in Haworth Church; Communist Manifesto is published

1849: Anne dies of tuberculosis on May 28 at Scarborough, Yorkshire and is buried in St. Mary's Churchyard, Scarborough; Charlotte publishes Shirley and travels to London, where she meets Thackeray, Dickens, and visits Parliament; Dickens publishes David Copperfield

1850: Charlotte meets novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, edits a second edition of both Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights inserting the famous Forward, has her portrait painted by George Richmond, and meets her hero, the Duke of Wellington

1851: Charlotte begins Villette; Emily's beloved dog, Keeper, dies

1852: Dickens publishes Bleak House

1853: Charlotte publishes Villette

1854: Charlotte marries Arthur Bell Nichols, her father's assistant curate

1855: The housekeeper Tabitha Aykroyd dies after 31 years with the family; Charlotte becomes pregnant but dies of typhoid fever on March 31and is buried in Haworth Church

1857: The Professor is published posthumously; Elizabeth Gaskell publishes The Life of Charlotte Brontë

1861: Patrick Brontë dies on June 7 and is buried in Haworth Church, the last person accorded this honor; Arthur Bell Nichols returns to his native Ireland; Prince Albert dies

1906: Arthur Bell Nichols dies in Ireland.

Note: Parts of this chronology were prepared using a variety of sources, including a chronology found in Paddock and Rollyson, listed on Companions and Encyclopedias page.

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