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 the Bank of Australasia, J. J. Falconer, who in 1861 once again put the property up for auction. The buyer was J. B. Holdsworth, a hardware and ironmonger magnate, who paid A₤4,750 for the house. Before he died, Holdsworth added the second storey to the wing on Bronte Road. Holdsworth's son sold the house and to Stanley Ebsworth in 1882 and a period of rapid change of ownership ended. A subdivision created a through road (Bronte Road) south of the house to the beach on part of the former carriage drive. This entailed demolition of one of the corner turrets