Ellen Nussey (1817-1897)

Source: Wood, facing p.280

Ellen was one of Charlotte Brontë's two close friends at Roe Head, and their friendship lasted the rest of Charlotte's life. They began writing to each other even from those earliest days. Stephen Whitehead suggests that Ellen represented one side of Charlotte's character, "passivity, piety and self-effacement," while the other friend, Mary Taylor, represented "ambition, frankness and self-fulfilment" (86). Ellen often visited the parsonage at Haworth, and became close to Emily and Anne as well (see Holland 75).

Image acquisition and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the source, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. Click on the image to reach a review of Nick Holland's book on Anne.]