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
Frances Mary Richardson Currer Frances Mary Richardson Currer Frances Mary Richardson Currer (3 March 1785 – 28 April 1861) was a British heiress and book collector. Frances Mary Richardson Currer was born shortly after the death of her father, Richard Richardson Currer in 1785. Shortly before he died, he had added the surname Currer to his own name. This was a condition of a substantial inheritance from Sarah Currer, the grand daughter of Matthew Wilson who had built Eshton Hall. Frances received two substantial inheritances which included her grandfather's library. She had always had an interest in books and now she owned her grandfather's