The Bronte Sisters' Sibling Sets Quiz

Answer: Reed

John, Eliza and Georgiana Reed were cousins of the eponymous Jane Eyre in the famous novel by Charlotte Bronte. Jane was the only child of a poor clergyman and his wife, the former Miss Reed of Gateshead, who had been disowned by her family for marrying "beneath her". When Jane was orphaned as a young baby, her uncle, Mr Reed, had her brought to his home with the intention of bringing her up as his own child. However, he died shortly afterwards and his wife - who hated Jane - only agreed to keep her because of a deathbed promise extracted by her husband. John, Eliza and Georgiana modelled their behaviour towards their younger cousin on that of their mother; John in particular was an unpleasant bully who regularly taunted Jane and made her life at Gateshead miserable.

After Jane left Gateshead for Lowood School she had no further contact with the Reeds until she was summoned back to their home to visit her dying aunt. She then found out what had happened to her cousins: John Reed had run up massive gambling debts and apparently committed suicide; Eliza had become rigidly religious and was planning to become a nun; and Georgiana was spoilt, petulant and more worried about her social life in London than the imminent death of her mother.

Answer: Earnshaw

Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw were the two children of the owner of Wuthering Heights - a remote house located on the Yorkshire Moors - who one day returned from the city of Liverpool with a young homeless boy named Heathcliff in tow. The boy became a great favourite of Mr Earnshaw, earned Hindley's enmity and fell in love with Catherine. After their father's death, Hindley inherited Wuthering Heights and reduced Heathcliff to the status of a servant. Meanwhile, Catherine agreed to marry their rich neighbour Edgar Linton as marriage to her true love Heathcliff would be "degrading" because of his lack of status, wealth and education. Unfortunately Heathcliff overheard her statement of his unsuitability, ran away from Wuthering Heights and only returned after he had made his fortune and was able to exact revenge on both Hindley and Catherine for their earlier treatment of him.

'Wuthering Heights' was Emily Bronte's only published novel and was written just two years before her death in 1848 at the age of 30. It received mixed reviews on its publication - some reviewers liked its powerful storyline and the emotions of the characters, but others disliked its lack of respect for Victorian morals and social standards.

Answer: Grey

'Agnes Grey' (1847) was the first published novel by Anne Bronte, the youngest of the Bronte sisters. It appeared at the same time as her sister Emily's masterpiece 'Wuthering Heights' and therefore ended up being generally overlooked by literary society. It told the story of the younger daughter of a clergyman who had to go out and earn a living as a governess after her father lost his fortune in an ill-advised investment. The early part of the novel, detailing Agnes's first job where she had to deal with spoilt and unruly children as well as a lack of respect from her employers, clearly reflected Anne Bronte's own personal experience of being a governess. In the end though, Agnes found a better job with the Murray family, which she only left after the death of her father meant that she and her mother needed to set up their own school together - a fortuitous move that brought Agnes back into contact with the man she loved.

Agnes's elder sister Mary, who had married a clergyman named Mr Richardson, was a relatively minor character in the novel.

Answer: Lawrence

'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', which first appeared in 1848, was the second of Anne Bronte's two published novels. The titular tenant was named Helen Graham, but it eventually became clear that this was a pseudonym that she was using in order to hide herself and her son from an alcoholic, cheating and abusive husband. In fact, her married name was Helen Huntingdon and Wildfell Hall was her ancestral home, as she was the sister of the local squire, Frederick Lawrence. While living at the hall, Helen met and fell in love with a local farmer named Gilbert Markham - however, since her identity was unknown, rumours surfaced that she was having an affair with Frederick. She was eventually forced to reveal her identity to Gilbert to save both his friendship with her brother and her own reputation.

The idea of a married woman leaving her husband in those circumstances was shocking to Victorian society and Anne Bronte's plot was a feminist work that was probably ahead of its time in terms of acceptability. It even shocked her own sister Charlotte, who suppressed its publication after Anne's death in 1849, aged just 29.

Answer: Moore

'Shirley' by Charlotte Bronte was set in Yorkshire during the Luddite uprisings of the early 19th century. The title character was, unusually, an independent and wealthy young woman who owned her own estate. Other key characters included Shirley's close friend Caroline Helstone, the niece of the local clergyman; Caroline's love interest, an impoverished mill owner named Robert Moore who lived with his older sister Hortense; and Shirley's former tutor Louis Moore (Robert's younger brother).

While it was clear that Robert and Caroline were in love, his financial difficulties meant that he could not afford to marry a penniless bride. So instead he proposed to the wealthy Shirley who swiftly rejected him as she was aware that he only wanted to marry her for her money. Also, Shirley was in love with his brother Louis, but their relationship had been made awkward by the gulf in their social status and the fact that he was currently the employee of Shirley's uncle. Eventually, though, both couples were able to sort out the obstacles preventing them from living happily ever after and were married in a double wedding ceremony.

Answer: Crimsworth

William Crimsworth was the title character of 'The Professor', which was Charlotte Bronte's first completed novel but the last to be published. (It only appeared in 1857 - two years after her death at the age of 38.) The story drew on Charlotte's experience of living and working in a boarding school in Brussels.

The two Crimsworth brothers were not close and had been largely brought up separately after being orphaned. Edward, the elder brother by ten years, remained in the care of their paternal uncle and became a wealthy tradesman and gained further riches by marrying an equally wealthy tradesman's daughter. By contrast, William's education was sponsored by his rich maternal uncles, so he was sent to Eton and offered a living in the church. However, William refused to accept further charity from these relations whom he despised and instead set out to make his own fortune. He first attempted this by working for his brother, but soon found that Edward's jealousy meant that he would never receive fair treatment from him, let alone any love. William then set off for Belgium to work as an English teacher in a boarding school in Brussels, where he eventually met his future wife and found happiness.

Answer: Markham

The first section of 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' was told in retrospect from the point of view of the "sort of gentleman farmer" Gilbert Markham, in the form of letters to his friend Halford. After Gilbert fell in love with the mysterious widow Helen Graham, he was shocked to discover that she was actually the former Helen Lawrence and was not a widow at all, but a woman who had chosen to run away from her husband. The pair lost contact when Helen returned to her husband, but were reunited after Huntingdon's death from the combination of alcoholism and a fox-hunting accident. However, by this point Helen was a wealthy woman who had inherited property from her uncle (as well as control over Huntingdon's estate that was now owned by their young son) and Gilbert had decided to avoid meeting her because of the difference in their social status. Luckily a chance encounter led to their eventual marriage and happiness.

After his marriage Gilbert turned over ownership of his farm to his younger brother Fergus, and it was revealed that his friend and correspondent "Halford" had married Gilbert's sister, Rose.

Answer: Murray

The Murray children were the second family for whom the titular Agnes Grey held the role of governess. The two boys, John and Charles, were sent to boarding school fairly early in her tenure there, but she became both teacher and confidant of the daughters - the beautiful, flirtatious, but scheming Rosalie and her tomboyish younger sister, Matilda. Rosalie's aim in life was to marry for money, a title and position; she successfully achieved all three when she married the rich Sir Thomas Ashby and became mistress of the grand Ashby Park. However, it turned out that she had forgotten about love and when she later invited Agnes to visit her, Agnes was disturbed to discover that the happy and lively girl she taught had been replaced by a bitter woman who stated that she detested her husband and "would give ten thousand worlds to be Miss Murray again".

The fate of the other Murray children was somewhat glossed over - apparently Matilda "had improved in her manners" under the tutelage of a new "fashionable" governess while John and Charles remained "fine, bold, unruly, mischievous boys".

Answer: Linton

While the love shared by Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff formed the main storyline of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights', the other key family involved in its plot were the siblings Edgar and Isabella Linton of Thrushcross Grange. Catherine married her friend Edgar Linton as she considered marriage to her true love Heathcliff to be impossible, but Heathcliff married Isabella (whom he despised) solely to exact revenge against both Catherine and Edgar. Isabella soon fled Yorkshire with their son Linton, while Catherine died in childbirth and Edgar was left to bring up their daughter, Cathy, at Thrushcross Grange.

Linton and Cathy eventually became good friends, mirroring his father and her mother's earlier relationship. The later section of 'Wuthering Heights' revolved around Heathcliff's plot to gain ownership of Thrushcross Grange by forcing Linton and Cathy to marry.

Answer: Rivers

St. John, Diana and Mary Rivers were also cousins of the title character of 'Jane Eyre'. In contrast to the Reed family, this set of siblings warmly welcomed Jane into their home, despite the fact they had never previously met and were at first unaware of their relationship. They were the children of Jane's father's sister and as such were from a poorer background than the Reeds - however, they were also kinder, more generous and more hardworking than Jane's other cousins.

St. John Rivers was a clergyman whose greatest ambition was to become a missionary in India, while Diana and Mary Rivers both worked as governesses (like Jane herself). When Jane chose to share her inheritance from their common uncle, Mr Eyre of Madeira, with her new-found cousins, she gave St. John the opportunity to follow his dream and Diana and Mary the opportunity to return home to live with their family. Charlotte Bronte's final note at the end of 'Jane Eyre' stated that, ten years after the final events of the novel, St. John was in India but both of his sisters remained close to Jane, with all three female cousins happily married to the men they loved.