A cache of new Brontë treasures has been revealed by a Canadian with a distant family connection.

Tony Hart, who lives in Manitoba, has donated the memorabilia to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.

The collection includes a gold brooch, fragmentary manuscript and portrait which all belonged to Charlotte Brontë. Mr Hart's great grandfather was the nephew of Mary Anna Bell, the second wife of Arthur Bell Nicholls, who had married Charlotte in 1854, the year before she died.

Mr Hart’s great grandfather emigrated from Ireland to Canada in the 1870s.

The items include a signed engraved portrait of Charlotte, a gold brooch set with garnets, and a carved ivory visiting card case and card.

There is a fragmentary manuscript by Charlotte, dated 1829 and entitled Anecdotes of the Duke of Wellington, with an ink drawing of a Wellington monument .

The items would have been taken to Ireland by Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1861 after Charlotte’s death and may have been given to Mr Hart’s great grandfather as keepsakes.

Ann Dinsdale, the museum's collections manager, said it was very rare for such wonderful group of items to emerge under any circumstances.

She said: "We feel extremely fortunate and grateful to Mr Hart for donating what is certainly a very valuable collection indeed to the museum.

Some of these items are quite unique within the context of the museum’s collection and so to have them return to Haworth after so many years, and all the way from Canada, is very special."

The new items are now on display at the Brontë Parsonage Museum as part of an exhibition focusing on Charlotte Brontë.