Maria Branwell was the wife of Rev Brontë and mother of the Brontë children.
She was born in Penzance. Daughter of Thomas Branwell, and sister of Elizabeth Branwell.
In the summer of 1812, Maria Branwell came to Yorkshire with William Morgan to visit her uncle – John Fennell, the first headmaster at Woodhouse Grove School – and her aunt. She never went back to Cornwall.
In August 1812, she met the Rev Brontë who was an examiner in the Classics and Theology at the school
She and Rev Brontë became engaged in early September, and married on 29th December 1812 at St Oswald's Parish Church, Guiseley at a double wedding with William Morgan and Jane Fennell. John Fennell gave both brides away. Her family did not attend the wedding, because Maria's sister, Charlotte, married a cousin, Joseph Branwell, at Madron church, Penzance on the same day.
She wrote an essay On the Advantages of Poverty in Religious Concerns.
She was taken ill on 29th January 1821. On 15th September, 1821, she died after a long and painful illness, which was probably cancer of the uterus. Her last words were:
Oh God, my poor children
She was buried inside the church at Haworth. Rev William Morgan conducted her funeral service
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