Branwell’s Demons (AW57)

As the only boy in the Brontë brood, and given the times in which they lived, great things were expected of Patrick Branwell Brontë (1817-1848).
Educated at home by his father, he was not lacking in ambition and had dreams of becoming a poet and painter. But his efforts were met with failure and frustration.
While his sisters’ literary star was in the ascendant, Branwell spiralled into a dramatic decline triggered by his alcohol, laudanum and opium addiction.
With his gregarious disposition he naturally gravitated towards the Black Bull Inn, a stone’s throw from the Parsonage. His sister Emily was known to go down the cobbled street to the inn and forcibly haul him home.