What was the nature of the Brontes' strange genius? Where did it spring from and what inspired it? Patrick Bronte, father of the Bronte sisters, came from Ireland, changing his name from Brunty to Bronte when he won a scholarship to Cambridge. His children never met their Irish relatives and Patrick was deliberately vague about his origins: because of this little has been known about the family's Irish background. Yet it was a huge influence in their lives and in their works. The Bronte family's story is every bit as strange and romantic as those penned by the sisters in their classic novels.