Lily Cole responds to Brontë Society row as member who quit is branded a snob

Lily Cole has responded to criticism of her appointment to the Brontë Society, asking that her work be “judged on its own merits” as one member’s decision to resign over her role was widely criticised as snobbery.

The Brontë Society promotes “the Brontës’ literary legacy within contemporary society” and runs the Brontë Parsonage Museum in the Yorkshire village of Haworth, where the family lived. But there have been several clashes between modernists and traditionalists over the group’s position in the 21st century, with both sides fighting over how best to promote the Brontës to new readers.

Cole, an actor and model who has a double first in History of Art from Cambridge, was chosen to be a “creative partner” in the society, as part of marking the bicentenary year of Emily Brontë’s birth. But in an online article and in a comment to the Times, Brontë Society member and author Nick Holland said he would resign over Cole’s appointment, which he called “rank farce”.

“What would Emily Brontë think if she found that the role of chief ‘artist’ and organiser in her celebratory year was a supermodel?” Holland wrote on his website. “We all know the answer to that, and anyone who doesn’t isn’t fit to make the decision or have any role in the governance of the Brontë Society.

“The very basic rule should have been that the person chosen for such an important role as creative partner is a writer. The drive now is for one thing – attracting a young audience. Being trendy is the ultimate aim, with the Brontës themselves relegated to the sidelines.”

Holland said he could “no longer continue to be a member of a society whose leaders’ views are so opposed to my own ... It’s best that I leave the society now, before they announce James Corden as the creative partner for 2019, a year in which Patrick Brontë is being remembered, and Rita Ora as organiser for Anne Brontë’s celebrations in 2020.”

Cole, who has worked on literacy campaigns, told the Guardian on Thursday: “Emily Brontë, whose extraordinary novel Wuthering Heights has stirred the world for over 150 years, published her work under an androgynous pseudonym: Ellis Bell. Writing in 1850, Charlotte Brontë explained why she and her sisters Emily and Anne all used pseudonyms: ‘We did not like to declare ourselves women, because we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.’

“When I was asked by the Brontë Parsonage Museum to work on a piece to commemorate Emily Brontë’s birth I immediately thought of Emily’s pseudonym, and what that gesture represented. Why could a woman not publish under her own name? What was life like for women living in the UK in the 19th century? What circumstances would also give rise to a child being found abandoned in a city in the 18th century, as Heathcliff was?

“Now I find myself wondering, fleetingly, if I should present the short film I am working on for the museum under a pseudonym myself, so that it will be judged on its own merits, rather than on my name, my gender, my image or my teenage decisions. I would not be so presumptuous as to guess Emily’s reaction to my appointment as a creative partner at the museum, were she alive today. Yet I respect her intellect and integrity enough to believe that she would not judge any piece of work on name alone.”

Holland’s response to Cole’s appointment has been widely criticised, with several writers calling it snobbery online.

“I’m sorry that some people have felt angry about it or against it,” Brontë scholar Samantha Ellis told the Guardian. “I think Lily Cole is a brilliant idea. With Tracey [Chevalier], Simon [Armitage] and now Lily, this move has been absolutely fantastic and brought loads more people to the Brontës and the parsonage. The Brontës were passionate, and that’s why people care so much about them.

“Lily’s clearly passionate about the arts and I don’t see why she wouldn’t be a good advocate. I do think there is a whiff of misogyny about some of the statements made about Lily on Twitter and beyond. People must remember that the Brontës themselves were young women – I think it is interesting that the society chose a young woman.”

Former Brontë Society president Bonnie Greer told the Times: “I don’t know what Lily Cole has to do with the Brontës but what did I have to do with them, other than loving Wuthering Heights? There has to be a balance and a mix. So if Lily Cole can open the museum, Emily Brontë etc to a new generation who can keep the whole show on the road, what’s wrong with that?”

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Brontë Society was unable to confirm or deny if Holland had resigned due to data protection laws, but said: “The Brontës were trailblazers and it is one of the roles of the society to ensure that their lives and work continue to be of relevance and interest to modern society. Lily’s innovative projects in the fields of literacy, nature, storytelling and the environment are the perfect fit for Emily, and her originality and creativity will bring a fresh perspective to our 2018 celebrations.”

Resignations and fights in the Brontë Society date back to the 1990s, with a £1m anonymous donation once withdrawn due to divisions between society members and leadership. In 2015, the then president Greer lambasted “malevolent lamebrains” and resigned, along with six council members, after a heated annual general meeting that saw Greer use her shoe as a gavel to keep order.

At the 2016 annual general meeting, more fighting was reported, with former chair Alexandra Lesley blaming “a lot of bad behaviour” for her resignation, one member repeatedly “screaming” until he was threatened with expulsion and another saying she “felt like I had come into the Stasi” after reading the society’s new rules.