Introducing Dr John Crosby

Alice Barrigan, local historian (the Cleveland area of North Yorkshire is her main topic of research) and author of Remarkable, but still True (the biography of Robert Joseph Barlow, an Irish clergyman who was vicar of Hutton Rudby from 1831 until his death in 1878) has contacted us to bring our attention (and BrontëBlog readers' as well) to an interesting piece of research focusing on Dr. John Crosby, physician to the Robinson family where Branwell was a tutor (and perhaps something else to the mistress of the house). He is mentioned in the diaries of the great great grandfather of Alice Barrigan.

Branwell Brontë's "honest and kindly friend": Dr John Crosby of Great Ouseburn
Written by Alice Barrigan

The experiences of Anne and Branwell Brontë in the household of the Revd Edmund Robinson of Thorp Green near York had significant and dramatic consequences for them both.
Branwell never worked again after his sudden dismissal as tutor to young Edmund Robinson in June 1845; it precipitated the self-destructive decline that ended in his death in September 1848. Anne's novels 'Agnes Grey' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' derive much material from her five years as governess to the Robinsons' daughters and from the painful three years at Haworth Parsonage during which Branwell descended into drunkenness, irreligion and despair.
The cause of Branwell's dismissal has long been a subject of debate, while in recent years there has been increasing interest in Anne and appreciation of her work. The lack of information about their time at Thorp Green has therefore been most unfortunate; the following account of Branwell's friend Dr John Crosby and his friends and neighbours, whose social life Branwell probably shared, may therefore be appreciated.

Read the article here.

Categories: Branwell Brontë, Brontëana