My Links with 'Jane Eyre'

 

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My 'Links' with 'Jane Eyre'

I first read Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' when I was about 11 and loved it. My mother took me to see a stage adaptation performed by our local repertory company, which was one of the events that led to my lifelong love of theatre, and I read the book more times than I can count.

About three years later, the story was serialised in 6 parts on BBC, in the old days of black and white television. Stanley Baker played Rochester and Daphne Slater played Jane. This was made doubly interesting by the fact that my class tutor at the time had been at school with Daphne Slater and used her 'connections' to get the autographs of both lead characters for us all (which I still have!) 

 

Fast forward about 30+ years. I started researching my family history and dscovered a link (in my father's family) to landed gentry in the county of Derbyshire. One of my ancestors was Robert Eyre (1390-1459) who fought at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He owned land in the county and married Joan Padley, the heiress to other estates. They lived in the small village of Hathersage and when they died, their tombs were surmounted with brass effigies. These are the most famous effigies in the church.

Even more fascinating (for me at least) was the connection between these brasses and Jane Eyre. 

In 1845 Charlotte Bronte went to stay at the Rectory at Hathersage with an old school friend, whose brother was the vicar. It was here she started to write her novel about Jane Eyre. It is said that she was inspired by the brass effigy on the tomb of Joan Eyre (nee Padley).

So it seems Jane Eyre was named after my 15-times-great grandmother! Maybe that is why I have always had an affinity with Charlotte Bronte's novel?

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