Patrick Brontë

The Reverend Patrick Brontë
Brontë circa 1860
Born	(1777-03-17)17 March 1777 Rathfriland, County Down, Ireland
Died	7 June 1861(1861-06-07) (aged 84) Haworth, Yorkshire, England
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Teacher, Clergyman
Spouse(s)	Maria Branwell (1783–1821)
Children	Maria (b. 23 April 1813, d. 6 May 1825(1825-05-06) (aged 12) Elizabeth (b. 8 February 1814, d. 15 June 1825(1825-06-15) (aged 11) Charlotte (b. 21 April 1816, d. 31 March 1855(1855-03-31) (aged 38) Branwell (b. 26 June 1817, d. 24 September 1848(1848-09-24) (aged 31) Emily (b. 30 July 1818, d. 19 December 1848(1848-12-19) (aged 30) Anne (b. 17 January 1820, d. 28 May 1849(1849-05-28) (aged 29)

Patrick Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /ˈbrɒnteɪ/; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, and of Branwell Brontë, his only son. Patrick outlived all his children and his wife, the former Maria Branwell, by forty years.

Patrick Brontë was the first of ten children born to Hugh Brunty, a farm labourer, and Alice McClory, in Drumballyroney (near Rathfriland), County Down. At one point in his adult life, he formally changed the spelling of his name from Brunty to Brontë (see the article on the Brontë family for theories for the change).

He had several apprenticeships (to a blacksmith, a linen draper, and a weaver) until he became a teacher in 1798. He moved to England in 1802 to study theology at St. John's College, Cambridge, and received his BA degree in 1806. He was then appointed curate at Wethersfield, near Braintree in Essex, where he was ordained a deacon of the Church of England in 1806, and into the priesthood in 1807.