Frances Mary Richardson Currer collections of Richard Heber which were larger than Currer's. Heber and Currer had a close relationship and Heber was bailed out by Currer when he had financial difficulties. It has been speculated that Currer was a benefactor of the Brontë sisters and this is the reason that Charlotte Brontë chose the nom de plume of "Currer Bell" for her novel "Jane Eyre". It is thought that she gave the Brontë sisters' father £50 to assist them when he became a widower. Currer did donate money to the Clergy Daughter's School that the Brontë sisters attended as well as funding the
Bronte House "repairing lease" as at present (the current tenants are required to spend $200,000 per year on the upkeep of the property as part of their lease). The placement of the house in its landscape is particularly felicitous, the formal garden merging easily with the natural landscape of Bronte Gully to make it the embodiment of the romantic marine villa. The garden, laid out by Mrs. Robert Lowe in the 1840's occupies the head of a small valley leading down to Bronte beach and Nelson Bay. The property contains largely overgrown remnants of an important mid-nineteenth century picturesque garden. The garden,