Which fictional schoolmaster is based on William Carus Wilson?

For anyone who has read Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" or seen one of the many screen adaptations of it, it is hard not to feel a shiver when thinking of the tyrannical schoolmaster Mr Brocklehurst, the cutter-off of topknots and tormentor of consumptive schoolgirls.

He was, however, not just a product of Charlotte's imagination, but firmly based on William Carus Wilson (1791-1859) who established the clergy daughters' school at Cowan Bridge in Yorkshire, northern England, which Charlotte and her sisters attended. This is the basis of the fictional "Lowood" in "Jane Eyre" and it would seem that the author did not need to invent or exaggerate the awfulness of the establishment. Just like the fictional Helen Burns, two of Charlotte's sisters died of consumption.

Wilson also shared Brocklehurst's taste for "improving" literature for young people, especially tales of those who regarded an early death as a blessing from heaven. This is made evident in his publication "The Children's Friend". Surprisingly, this publication survived until 1930.

Under threat of a defamation action, Charlotte wrote a letter of apology, and Wilson's son also sprung to his defence, but all those familiar with Cowan Bridge and Carus Wilson seem to have agreed that the picture was accurate.