The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of a Literary Family

by Juliet Barker

There were considerable difficulties to overcome if Patrick was to reach his goal of ordination, not the least being that he could not become a clergyman unless he graduated from one of the universities. To do that, he had first to be proficient in Latin and Greek. As these were not on the syllabus of the ordinary village school in Ireland, it seems likely that Patrick was instructed in the Classics by Thomas Tighe, perhaps in part-payment for his services as a tutor to the family. Interestingly, the story was current as early as 1855 that Patrick adopted the ‘Bronte’ spelling of his surname in response to pressure from Thomas Tighe, who disliked the plebeian ‘Brunty’ and thought the Greek word for thunder a more appropriate and resonant version of the name.24