Charlotte Brontë was the third of six children born to Reverend Patrick Brontë. The children were raised by their Aunt Elizabeth and the family servant (Tabby), because her mother died when she was five. At eight, she packed off to go to a school for clergymen's daughters. It was here that an epidemic broke out, killing the two oldest girls of the family. This lead to Charlotte being sent home. Charlotte eventually decided to open her own school with her sisters, but they failed to get students. Charlotte also attempted to publish a volume of poems written by herself, Emily, and Anne (under the pennames Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell). The book sold only two copies. All three sisters went on to write novels that are part of today's literary canon. Charlotte died within a year of marrying her father's curate, Arthur Bell Nichols (Brontë 1).
Although readers should be skeptical in conflating Brontë’s personal life with Jane Eyre, events such as her brother’s alcoholism, teaching, and the epidemic that broke out at the school that kills her sisters parallels too closely to not be influential in her novel.
To read more on Charlotte Brontë’s life, as well as other notable women writing on the amelioration of social problems, consider reading Linda Peterson’s article, “Triangulation, Desire, and Discontent in ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë.’”
Bibliography: Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Philadelphia, Courage Books, 1988.
Linda H. Peterson. “Triangulation, Desire, and Discontent in ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 47, no. 4, 2007, p. 901. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4625146&site=eds-live.