On Memorials

 It's Not Bronte It's Brontë

   Many public memorials and statues have been destroyed or removed in the past few years, if it was felt that the subject displayed should be "cancelled." In Mulcahy's Miscellany such destruction has been opposed. See, for example, the post about "Brock's Monument", or the one about the Vietnam War Memorial, in "Speaking of Statues", and especially the one that suggests a British solution to the problem, which is "Retain and Explain", found in "Simple Solutions." 
  Such a simple solution has been applied to the stone plaque found in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey which was installed about 85 years ago. Apparently those involved may have been in a bit of a rush since in 1939 there were other things to worry about. Diaereses have now been placed over the "e" and readers will know that they are the Bront-tay sisters not the Bronts.

Source:

  I know about such things because I read this morning this article: "Westminster Abbey’s Brontë Plaque Had a Typo for 85 Years. It’s Fixed Now. Punctuation delayed, but not denied: A memorial to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë at Poets’ Corner in the celebrated London church finally gets its accent marks," Lynsey Chutel, New York Times, Sept. 27, 2024.

Post Script:

  The reason they are the Brontës and not the Bruntys is an interesting one.
   "But the accent mark was actually the result of some poetic license by the writers’ father, Patrick Brontë. Originally Patrick Brunty, he made the change upon arriving at Cambridge University as a student, in an effort to indicate a higher social standing and eschew prejudice against his Irish roots, said Sandie Byrne, a professor of English at the University of Oxford."

    Problems with statues and memorials continue to be a vexing issue for those easily vexed. A new, very plain one erected in Belfast displaying the late Queen Elizabeth, has been criticized because Her Majesty looks too much like a "Polish Washerwoman" or "the lady behind the counter at a "Fish and Chips Shop."