1 September, Thursday – Weather: 9 to 19 C, quite clouded, some
evening rain, strong wind
On this day an art
exhibition was opened in Koekelberg. The aim was to raise money for a new local
church. “Les dames directrices,” the Journal
de Bruxelles wrote on the fourth, “are Mesdames Goussaert, née Phelps, directress of
the English pensionnat” and six other women. Two days later it wrote that the
‘beauty and freshness of most of the works excited the attention of all
visitors.’ On the 20th l’Indépendant
wrote that ‘many curious
people go to Koekelberg each day to see the exhibition.’ It added that there
was also a large number of works by women. The Brontë sisters may well have
visited this exhibition, together with the Taylor sisters.
Rachel, accompanied
by her mother and brother, left Brussels on this day, for Paris. With her 12
performances in the city and one in Gent she had earned more than 30,000
francs, l’Indépendent wrote the next day.
2 September, Friday – W: 12 to 18 C, clouded, rainy morning
3 September, Saturday – W: 15 to 23 C, clouded morning, bright
afternoon
l’Indépendant had four extra pages about the debate in Parliament concerning the city
of Brussels which had run into heavy debts. The city wanted to renegotiate the
convention with the state of November 1841, which had not worked out well for
Brussels. This debate dominated the newspapers around this time.
4 September, Saturday – W: 14 to 23 C, pretty clouded, rainy
afternoon
‘They are going to
demolish the pump in the rue d’Isabelle in order to construct a new one,’ l’Indépendant wrote. It possibly refers to the water well in the garden of the
Pensionnat.
5 September, Sunday – W: 10 to 19 C, quite sunny
More than 5000
people visited the Salon on this day, including the King and Queen. There were
also ever more foreigners who came to see the art exhibition. Paintings were
still being added to the exhibition.
The Journal de Bruxelles had a Rue
d’Isabelle advertisement.
Rue d’Isabelle 3
(at the corner with Rue Terarken) was also the ‘depot’ for the Paris Journal des Economistes (as the Moniteur belge wrote a week earlier).
The Brontës obviously knew this bookshop well.
Here’s another ad
from them (l’Indépendant, 23 January 1842):
6 September, Tuesday – W: 10 to 22 C, cumulus clouds
On this day, in
Haworth, William Weightman died. He was buried on the 10th.
7 September, Wednesday – W: 14 to 24 C, somewhat clouded
8 September, Thursday – W: 18 to 22 C, clouded morning, quite sunny
afternoon
9 September, Friday – W: 13 to 18 C, clouded, drizzle rain around
midday, strong wind
‘We are signaling
for the hundredth time,’ the Journal de
Bruxelles wrote, ‘the speed with which the horse coaches are traveling at a
gallop in the streets of the capital.’ Earlier complaints, and promises made by
coach owners clearly hadn’t had any effect. (← 26 August)
10 September, Saturday – W: 14 to 18 C, fairly clouded, afternoon and
evening rain
11 September, Sunday – W: 13 to 17 C, pretty clouded, continuous
drizzle rain from 2 am onwards
The Journal de Bruxelles on this day
observed that for some days now they were actively demolishing the two
buildings opposite the Pensionnat, on either side of the Belliard Steps. The
aim was to restore the old panoramic view of the city from the statue of
Belliard (see this article).
12 September, Monday - W: 12 to 16 C, clouded, rain all evening,
still a strong wind from the west
13 September, Tuesday – W: 13 to 20 C, somewhat clouded
The kiosk in the
Parc was being renovated, l’Indépendant
reported, for the nearby
September festivities. And on this day (it wrote on the 15th) they
began placing arcades in the Parc for “la grande illumination,” a part of these
festivities later on in the month.
The paper also
reported that on the streets in Brussels one could see “grandes affiches”
announcing the concert Hector Berlioz was to give on the 26th. That
is quite interesting, as one wouldn’t expect such large street posters at this
time. There must then have been a good many more smaller affiches, for other
cultural events.
14 September, Wednesday - W: 14 to 21 C, cumulus clouds
15 September, Thursday – W: 13 to 20 C, quite clouded
Charlotte and Emily
may have gone to the Marché-aux Poissons, for the kermesse there. It attracted a lot of visitors, according to l’Indépendant.
The Journal de Bruxelles had an interesting
letter from someone complaining about the deplorable, “vraiment scandaleuses”
behaviour of guardsmen at the City’s Portes, especially towards women. It gives
an idea what it was like for the sisters to leave or enter the city by one of the
Portes, for instance when going to Koekelberg, or the Jenkinses, in Ixelles.
16 September, Friday – W: 9 to 18 C, sunny
17 September, Saturday – W: 10 to 20 C, sunny
18 September, Sunday – W: 14 to 22 C, pretty sunny
19 September, Monday – W: 15 to 20 C, pretty clouded, heavy rain
shortly after midnight
20 September, Tuesday – W: 11
to 16 C, quite clouded
The Société Philharmonique gave its
last Jardin Botanique concert of the season.
21 September, Wednesday – W: 8 to 16 C, quite clouded
22 September, Thursday – W: 8 to 16 C, cumulus clouds
23 September, Friday – W: 7 to 16 C, cumulus clouds
This day marked the
beginning of the September festivities. There were concerts in the Park, the
museums and the Salon were free to visit on this day, which began loudly, with
21 cannon shots at 8 am. The sisters could in these days have gone to the
Dahlia flower show, to horse-racing, a theatre play at the Vaux-Hall, or the
crossbow shooting, the tir à
l’arbalete. They will have
known about the Pensionnat’s garden origin as the Jardin des Arbalétriers.
24 September, Saturday – W: 7 to 15 C, more clouds as the day
progresses, rain in the evening
Despite the rain a
concert in the Park went ahead (choral works). It didn’t affect the number of
visitors, the Journal de Bruxelles
said.
25 September, Sunday – W: 10 to 17 C, quite clouded, rain from 4 pm
onwards
The day started
with a new salvo of 21 cannon shots, at 8 pm. At midday there was a concert in
the Park by the military harmony orchestra, attended by many people. The
sisters may also have witnessed a choir procession. Starting at the Champs de
Mars, near the Porte de Namur, a number of choirs walked to the Temple des
Augustins for a concours (Berlioz was
one of the members of the jury). They were obviously already singing along the
way. At several places in the city there were ‘popular games.’ The Société de la Grande Harmonie gave a concert in the Park, in the kiosk.
There were few visitors surely, because of the rain. Reporters must have gone
to a café instead, as both our newspapers have no concert review. The weather
did also spoil the “grande illumination” in the Parc.
A banquet was
offered to the men who got wounded in the uprising of September 1830, at the
Champs-Elysees, which was close to where the Jenkinses were living.
26 September, Monday – W: 9 to 17 C,
pretty clouded, rain all evening
The rain again spoilt the concert in the
Parc in the evening, and the “grande illumination.’
Berlioz on that evening conducted the
orchestra of the Société Royale de la Grande Harmonie. The program had been
printed in l’Indépendant two days earlier.
27 September, Tuesday – W: 9 to 14 C, rain at night, clouded, rain
beginning again around 2 pm
Because of the September
“fêtes”
there were no newspapers on this day. It was unfortunately another miserable
weather day.
28 September, Wednesday – W: 8 to 12 C, rain continues until midday,
quite clouded afternoon
29 September, Thursday – W: 8 to 12 C, clouded, but some late
afternoon sunshine
The city celebrated
the success of the choir of the Société Réunion Lyrique de Bruxelles at a national competition.
Streets were adorned, the bells were ringing, the artillery fired salvos, and
the winners marched in procession through the streets.
The Moniteur belge reported about education
prizes, mentioning too Auguste Dement (joint first place) and Alfred Adan
(honorary mention), both pupils of M. Heger at the Athenée.
30 September, Friday – W: 6 to 9 C, clouded
Eric Ruijssenaars
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