Horatio Nelson & the Bronte Sisters

In Episode 3, Audrey (and Mrs Poo) told Richard the walls of the small parish church were adorned with plaques dedicated to members of the fforbes-Hamilton family. As I'm less acquainted with English history than its literature, the family name that jumped out to me, when my wife and I toured the St Thomas church, was not Nelson, but Bronte. In subsequent research, I've learned that Bronte, in this case, refers to a duchy, which English naval hero Horatio Nelson (and his descendants) was awarded for the pivotal role he played in several battles. So there's apparently no connection with writer Charlotte Bronte, whose novel Jane Eyre I read last year, after visiting her hometown of Haworth back in 2012.

Still, Peter Spence would have visited the St Thomas church regularly, as his in-laws owned the manor house and surrounding estate when he was creating To The Manor Born. He would have studied all the plaques dedicated to the Nelson family. As a writer, he would also have noted the Bronte name, as the novels of the three sisters--Anne, Emily, and Charlotte--are regarded as some of the most important in western literature. 

I don't know what literature English teachers assign to students in English schools, but as Haworth is one of the most visited literary shrines (second only to William Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon), I'm guessing he would have read some of the Bronte sisters' stories in his youth. If he hadn't, it wouldn't surprise me to learn he read their novels before or while he wrote To The Manor Born. Such novels as Wuthering Heights by Emily, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte all speak of the demands placed upon the aristocratic families, and how dealing with those weighty responsibilities shaped the characters of the rich and powerful. What I find even more striking is how those novels resonate today with people across races, religions, and social strata. Here were three women who grew up poor, who never wielded an ounce of real power in their lives, yet their stories dealt so truthfully not only with those (like Richard and Audrey) who wielded power, and those like estate worker Old Ned and the butler Brabinger who worked for them.

Is it reasonable to assume that Horatio Nelson, and the Nelson dukes and duchesses who succeeded him, led Peter Spence to create the rich tapestry of the fforbes-Hamilton family, which Audrey continually cites in To The Manor Born? Is it likely that the repeated mention of the Bronte name helped Spence create more than just an ordinary sitcom, but also a romance that attracted some of the highest viewing figures for any show of its era? Is it likely those plaques inside the St Thomas Church, in their small way, helped him create a saga still beloved around the world, and deemed one of the most important British sitcoms ever?

Well, they couldn't have hurt, could they?

Dragon Dave