Nancy de Garrs grave (1804? to 1886)

Nancy served the Brontë family for eight years and helped to bring up the children at the Thornton. She was just 12 or 13 years old when she was employed - along with her sister Sarah - to help with household chores. The sisters moved to Haworth with the family and took the children on moorland walks and helped them play with their toys.

The sisters left the parsonage after Maria Bronte died. Over her life Nancy married twice, her first marriage was to a foreman and then to a John Malone who worked in a wool warehouse. He died but she was rarely lonely as she was often visited by Brontë lovers who wanted to hear first hand tales of the family. Patrick, Charlotte and Emily had sent her gifts and she treasured these but she was forced to let them go due to poverty (her nephew ended up with them.)

In her 80s she had no husband and no means of supporting herself. She was taken in at the Bradford workhouse. She died aged 82, her dying wish was that she didn’t want to be buried in a paupers grave. She was put in this plot which lay undiscovered for about 130 years until researchers found it. Now Friends of Undercliffe Cemetery group is trying to raise money for a decent headstone. Records show the plot contains Mary Stocks, James Scholey and John William Scholey.

Her sister Sarah emigrated to Iowa and lived to 93.

Unveiling in June 2022...