Captain Keeldar and Gentleman Jack
I've just finished reading Shirley by Charlotte Bronte. Actually, I've read it a couple of times before, but barely remembered it (apart from the curates and the Luddites). The main reason I read it this time was to try and decide if there was any connection between the title character, Shirley Keeldar, and Anne Lister of Shibden Hall. I thought it was possible. West Yorkshire (the West Riding in Anne Lister and the Brontes' day) isn't that big, and the lifetimes of the two women overlapped. As Anne Lister was a landowner, she would have been a well-known character to people living in the West Riding in the early 19th century. Did Charlotte Bronte know her, and did she have any influence on the creation of Shirley? The question interests me because Shibden Hall has been a favourite place for me since early childhood. The Bronte sisters are also local characters (born in the village just across the fields from mine), and I feel I have a ...