Couple go from Down Under to up yonder on Brontë mission - Screen captures from the video

taken from http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/video/Couple-go-from-Down-Under.6324250.jp

Published Date: 27 May 2010
By Andrew Robinson

A COUPLE have travelled thousands of miles from their sheep farm in Australia to see at first hand their connections to a world-famous Yorkshire family.

Davina and John Greenwood, from Melbourne, visited Dewsbury Minster this week where 200 years ago a distant ancestor, the Rev John Buckworth, appointed Patrick Brontë as curate.

Memorial to Rev John Buckworth

[My addition: Davina said that the Rev John Buckworth married Rachael Halliley - so our family connection begat children of a Minister of the church]

Mrs Greenwood is a distant relative of Patrick Brontë's brother William, who lived in Ireland and whose descendants have ended up in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, England and Scotland.


After a short stint at Dewsbury Patrick Brontë moved to Haworth where the rugged Yorkshire landscape inspired his daughters to pen the novels that became literary classics.

Mr Buckworth married the eldest daughter of local mill owner John Halliley, from whom Australian-born John Greenwood gets his middle name, Halliley.

Several generations of Hallileys in Australia can now trace their family tree back to people living in West Yorkshire in the early 1800s and before.

Last year Dewsbury Minster – a parish church in the 1800s – celebrated the 200th anniversary of Patrick Brontë's appointment as curate.

The Greenwoods were helped in their pilgrimage by Brontë enthusiast Imelda Marsden, 64, from Mirfield, who pointed out all the local connections.

As well as the Haworth connection, there are many other places in Yorkshire with links to one or other of the famous sisters.

Charlotte Brontë's lifelong friend Mary Taylor lived at Red House, Gomersal, which is now a museum.

The Greenwoods also toured the graveyard at Dewsbury Minster, where a number of Mr Greenwood's ancestors are buried, and took in Haworth and the Dales.

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* Last Updated: 27 May 2010 10:21 AM
* Source: n/a
* Location: Yorkshire