Sir James Kay-Shuttle worth and the Bronte Interlude J. SHAFAR, md,frcp The Group of Hospitals

James Phillips Kay was to spend less than ten years Licence the name of Kay-Shuttleworth. Repeated entirely in the practice of medicine. During his reference appears to his relentless drive and to his undergraduate days at Edinburgh University he already unyielding devotion and dedication, but in 1848 he was displayed his capacity for an orderly presentation of his found unconscious in his office and inadequate resto- views, his contemporary, Charles Darwin, judging him to ration of his health determined his resignation. His close be the best of the speakers of the Royal Medical Society. associate, Carleton Tufnell, witnessed the premonitory In 1827 he became Physician to the Ardwick and Ancoats pointers: 'Long before his health gave way ... I could dispensary in Manchester and subsequently accepted perceive that he put forth such energy in his work, that . control of the Knott Mill Cholera Hospital when the few constitutions could stand such continued exertion'. A cholera epidemic reached England from the continent. baronetcy was conferred upon him in recognition of his Contact with scenes and conditions 'too deplorable for great services. description' roused him to publicise issues such as the Descriptions of Charlotte Bronte's appearance at the state of the operatives in the cotton industry. Un- time of the Kay-Shuttleworth encounter show close successful application to the staff of the Manchester agreement: little, plain, delicate, pale with fair straight Infirmary, he felt, would debar future scientific study, hair, a broad overhanging forehead, very good expressive and since the exacting demands of his involvement with eyes and a large mouth with many missing teeth. George the poor were making inroads into his health he accepted Smith, her publisher, affords us an interesting insight the post of Assistant Poor Law Commissioner when the that she deplored her poor looks and would gladly have Board was formed in 1834. He could probably have exchanged her talents and fame for beauty. Not- attained distinction in the medical sphere, for his work on withstanding, four offers of marriage testify to her at- asphyxia gained the Fothergillian Gold Medal and, 90 tractiveness to the opposite sex. ? years later, it drew unstinted praise from Sir James Haworth, second only to Stratford as a place of literary Mackenzie, his future neighbour in Burnley. attraction, lies some ten miles from Hall as To give adequate merit to his achievements as the the crow flies, but separated at that time by uninhabited founder of popular education requires realisation that moorland. Charlotte declined two invitations from Sir education was vitally linked to religion in the early James to visit Gawthorpe and he thereupon announced nineteenth century, and a major part of his efforts was his intention of calling upon her. It was for her a period directed to reconciling the opposing forces in religious of great sadness and loneliness, for between September politics and overcoming the bitter resentment towards 1848 and the following May she had lost her brother, , state intervention. Before 1833, the government provided Br am well, and her two surviving sisters, Emily and Anne. no money for education, there was no compulsion for The increasing withdrawal of her father and her own children to attend school, no law to prohibit anyone immersion in the writings of her sisters augmented her opening a school, no supervision of its instructional depression so that she was to declare her 'loathing for efficiency, and the masters were of a quality to be solitude grows extreme'. Sir James has been criticised for ' described by Macaulay as the 'refuse of all other callings'. an over-purposeful and excessively insistent encroach- Milestones in Kay's public life include the organisation of ment, but her reluctance was predictable in view of her pauper schools, promotion of primary education, the intense shyness, especially towards one of whom she foundation of the first teacher-training college at would have little or no knowledge in her segregated state. Battersea and his appointment as the first Secretary of She formed a favourable impression of Sir James and his the Committee of the Council of Education. As the wife, of their comely appearance and lack of preten- foremost authority of his day on popular education, and tiousness, but with the reservation that she wished he in his remarkable capacity to manage unwilling men and were as sincere as he was polished, and that he showed his refractory institutions, G. M. Young could well white teeth with too frequent a smile. Her father per- pronounce that, 'it is hard to think of any name in the suaded her to accept the invitation to Gawthorpe and she Victorian age which deserves to stand above or even was to record the enjoyment of her stay in the hall, which beside Kay-Shuttleworth'. was very much to her taste, 'near three centuries old, Shuttleworth, heiress to Hall, near grey, and also the talks the Janet Gawthorpe stately picturesque'; by ^ Burnley, following the death of her father during her fireside 'mostly in the form of monologues by Sir James'. infancy, contacted Dr Kay because of her interest in the The latter observation probably reflects, rather, ] their culminated in to as local school, and association Charlotte's tendency silent withdrawal for, Mrs , marriage in 1842, when Dr Kay assumed by Royal Gaskell wrote of their first meeting, she hardly spoke.

224 Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London Vol. 13 No. 4 October 1979 tells a because of their to on at Haworth , Lady Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, of party given declined obligation stay in Charlotte's honour, when the anticipated brilliant Parsonage during the lifetime of Charlotte's father. On conversation was not forthcoming and the evening proved their visit to Gawthorpe in January 1855 the offer was gloomy and silent; one guest was to declare it to be one of tendered once more and again acceptance was not the dullest evenings she had ever spent in her life. deemed possible. During this stay Charlotte had in- Following her visit, Charlotte summed up her im- judiciously embarked on long walks, traversing sodden pressions of Sir James ?that he possessed a high mental lawns in light shoes, and had become ill. On her return to cultivation with thoroughly practical views and habits but Haworth her health was further assailed by hyperemesis was to on The ! with a sensitivity which had passed into irritability. She gravidarum; she die the last day of March. was persuaded to accompany them on their projected certified cause of death was phthisis, the family scourge, visit to London but insisted on not being lionised and, with no mention of pregnancy. Appreciation of Sir although ill at ease, she remained aware of the benefits James's involvement comes in a letter from her father, that would result 'he who shuns suffering will never win written eight weeks before her death, which details victory. If I mean to improve, I must strive and endure.' Charlotte's illness and expresses his own gratitude for Again criticism has been levelled at Sir James for the medical enquiries instituted in respect of his cataracts. exertion of undue pressure but she evinced confidence in Mrs Gaskell and Charlotte had developed a strong his medical to her from undue mutual and she was the Rev. I capacity protect fatigue regard approached by a would undo and from too many strangers. The ill-health of her father Patrick Bronte to compile biography that and in these but her the mis-statements. She encountered y of Sir James caused alterations plans, many prevailing response to the later suggestion that she travel down resistance from him and Mr Nicholls when she desired alone, stopping en route with several of the Kay- access to existing manuscripts, copyright of all published To y Shuttleworth friends, offers a clear example of her and unpublished work being in the latter's right. tendency to over-reaction: 'I would as lief have walked reinforce her approach she asked Sir James to accompany She was to in London her to Haworth. His she recounts, was without , among red-hot ploughshares'. stay conduct, with her publisher's mother, Mrs Smith, and then, as on the slightest delicacy or scruple and he would take no the two subsequent London visits, she complained of Sir refusal, removing many manuscripts, including The 1 James's attempts to monopolise her but with such Professor. This is the description of events most com- a her qualifying remarks as 'he has been very kind', monly quoted, but he appears in better light in i' In 1850 she was the guest of the Kay-Shuttleworths at communication with George Smith relating her 'most Briery Close, near Windermere. Mrs Gaskell had en- successful visit . . . accompanied by Sir J. P. Kay- countered Lady Kay-Shuttleworth at the home of the Shuttleworth, to whom it is evident that Mr. Bronte and latter's cousin and expressed her great interest in Mr. Nicholls look up ?and who is not prevented by fear Charlotte. She accepted Sir James's invitation with of pain from asking in a peremptory manner for whatever alacrity, and so the two ladies met. Lady Kay- he thinks desirable. He was extremely kind in forwarding Shuttleworth was little in evidence because of in- all my objects.' The reaction of Sir James, if over- disposition and they were free to spend most of the day forceful, would reflect his indignation at any attempt to together. This ill accords with the accusation of lionising, suppress from the public a completed work of so repeatedly directed at Sir James. His restraint from celebrated an authoress, and which she had on nine ?v commandeering their presence hardly justifies the occasions unsuccessfully submitted for publication. A sweeping assertion of Mrs Gaskell after her three-day stay literary debt may be owed him for his insistence. Mrs that he was an 'eminently practical man who never in- Gaskell feared undesirable revelations of Charlotte's not M. and these fears were dulged in the exercise of any talent which would association with Heger although bring a speedy and tangible return', but she follows with allayed after she read the text they may have influenced insistence. the mitigating remark, 'he was very kind; and really took her immediate reaction towards Sir James's Bronte ac-

Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London Vol. 13 No. 4 October 1979 225 man remains dim. He was of deep religious faith, of notes that she altered her tone according to whom she boundless energy, with an obsessional attention to detail. wrote. To Ellen Nussey, her life-long friend since school His extensive reading included poetry and English and days, she gave few confidences and much gossip, her works on economic and historical foreign social, subjects. father received conventional respect, to Emily she was gay Under John Pyke Hullah he had introduced music to the and confiding, and to those eminent in literature she school curriculum. The literary parties and the meetings displayed her intelligence while preserving an air of between artists and writers which it pleased Sir James to modesty; only by consideration of each facet as part of arrange sprang from his belief that art flourished in the the whole can one obtain an integrated conception of her society of artists. His own literary efforts had begun long complex nature. Her letters regarding the Kay- before the Bronte interlude; on their marriage he Shuttleworths are hardly over-burdened with terms of presented his wife with some, including a masque and appreciation of hospitality and kindness received. While poems. His novel Scarsdale was published anonymously, Sir James's mode of approach marred his good intent, her clearly at variance with the alleged propensity towards obligation towards him is evident. In a period of great literary lion-hunting. Other works included a further emotional distress he had afforded a change of scene and novel, Ribblesdale, and a history of Cromwell in the fresh acquaintances, including Mrs Gaskell, his friend- North. Lady Kay-Shuttleworth herself wrote a small ship had extended to her father, and the practical aspect book, The Ladder of Cowslips, presenting in pleasant of his concern was apparent in offering her husband an form to children the essentials of the theory of music. improved living. The contrast of the timid, self- Their eldest daughter, Janet Elizabeth, was to translate conscious, subjective, mystic Celt and the clear-minded, two works from the original German. objective, energetic Saxon is emphasised by Frank Smith Sir James's alleged pursuit of Charlotte as a person of as the basis for her inadequate analysis of his character. literary renown should be viewed against the background His assured outlook with its absence of doubt, his un- of his existence. His friends and acquaintances, listed by bending, vigorous approach and his worldly presence his son, later Baron Shuttleworth, make up a truly would have overawed her; she, whose existence had to formidable catalogue; his prestige in public life, his entry such an extent been occupied with either the preparation into a family able to trace its lineage back for centuries, for or the practice of teaching, may have resented the and the highly successful careers of his brothers, hardly reversal of the role of teacher-disciple. To be fair to indicate a pressing need for further personal elevation to Charlotte, she remained conscious of her unrespon- be attained by the reflected glory of Charlotte's lustre. siveness, and apparently contrite, striving to be grateful Further distinction was to come to him with an honorary for his 'gift of friendship', but she was to continue to be degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford. A more repelled by his dominating approach, unrelaxed and ill realistic interpretation may be entertained ?that he was at ease in his presence, unable to imbue their relationship actuated by a sincere desire to help, support, and ad- with a warm regard. Nevertheless, his flaws of character vance so vulnerable a personality of genius. are hardly of so heinous a nature as to warrant the degree Some comments of a personal nature reveal significant of derogation and belittlement to which he has been shortcomings. Matthew Arnold considered that as an subjected in the biographical writings on Charlotte. As administrator he did not attract by person and manner, Madison Bates concludes: Charlotte and Mrs Gaskell and his temper was not smooth or genial and he left, on their admirers owe him a debt so substantial that it many, the impression of a managing and designing man, deserves full recognition. but he declared that 'no other means than those by Bibliography adopted by him could a system of public education have Arnold, M. (1887) The Reign of Queen Victoria, vol. 2, p. 140 (ed. T. been then introduced in this Frank Smith refers country'. H. Ward), London: Smith, Elder and Co. to the intellectual strength which made him a formidable Bates, M. C. (1955) Harvard Library Bulletin, 376, 9. opponent so that he was called the 'able', the 'adroit' and Cecil, D. (1934) Early Victorian Novelists. London: Constable. A. V. and Pollard, A. The Letters Mrs Gaskell. the 'wily secretary, a person to be feared, to be watched Chappie, J. (1966) of Manchester University Press. and even to be His son observed that he did suspected. Gaskell, E. C. (1857) The Life of Charlotte Bronte. London: John not suffer fools gladly and faults of conduct provoked his Murray. scathing comments. The impression conveyed by Char- Gerin, W. (1967) Charlotte Bronte. Oxford: Clarendon Press. W. lotte and Mrs Gaskell is of an overbearing, over-attentive, Gerin, (1976) Elizabeth Gaskell. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Judges, A. V. (1952) Pioneers of English Education. London: Faber. and individual with a tyrannous directing controlling Pollard, H. M. (1956) Pioneers of Popular Education. London: John to his benevolence. Such tendencies have quality may Murray been aggravated by frequent illness during the associ- Shorter, C. (1914) The Brontes and Their Circle. London: J. M. Dent. ation, and possibly by his marital situation, since Lady Smith, F. (1923) The Life of Sir fames Kay-Shuttleworth. London: John Shuttleworth was to leave in 1853, never to Murray. Gawthorpe M. (1954) The Bronte Letters. London: Peter Nevill. return. Spark, Tufnell, E. C. (\8T7)Journal of Education, 307, 19. Charlotte's reluctance towards self-revelation presents Winnifrith, T. (1973) The Brontes and Their Background. London: an obstacle to the interpretation of her character. David Macmillan. T. Cecil is struck her extreme ?that she did not Wise, J. and Symington, J. A. (1932) The Brontes: Their Lives, by simplicity Friends and Oxford: The Head see much but what she saw was black or white with Correspondence. Shakespeare wholly Press. no the and future received little con- half-lights; past Young, G. M. (1953) Victorian England: Portrait of an Age, 2nd edn, sideration and she lived only in the present. Muriel Spark London: Oxford University Press.

226 Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London Vol. 13 No. 4 October 1979