Up next in 10
Joseph Merrick, aka The Elephant Man, was born on August 5, 1862 in Leicester, England, and he was born a completely healthy child with absolutely no indication that anything was, or would be wrong. There are differing accounts of exactly when Joseph’s disfigurements started to appear, but general consensus is that they didn’t become severe until he was about 5 years old. However he was affected by the disease before his fifth birthday. Accounts state that as early as 21 months, he began developing a swelling of his lips, followed by a bony lump on his forehead, which later grew, of course, to roughly resemble an elephant’s trunk.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
It's likely that you've at least heard of the Elephant Man before, but maybe you don't really
0:03
know much about him. Here's the entire weird and tragic history of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man
0:10
Joseph Merrick was born on August 5th, 1862 in Leicester, England, and he was born a completely
0:15
healthy child with absolutely no indication that anything was or would be wrong. There are different
0:20
accounts of exactly when Joseph's defigurement started to appear, but general consensus is that
0:25
it didn't become severe until he was about five years old. However, he was affected by the disease
0:30
before his fifth birthday. Accounts state that as early as 21 months, he began developing a swelling
0:36
of his lips, followed by a bony lump on his forehead which later grew, of course, to roughly
0:41
resemble an elephant's trunk. During his early years, Joseph and his mother Mary were extremely
0:46
close. All things considered, Mary Merrick's story also had its fair share of tragedy. Apart from
0:51
Joseph she had three other children but lost two of them at very young ages. Mary Merrick herself
0:56
died young, passing away from pneumonia in 1873 when Joseph was only 11. As it would any loving
1:02
son, her death devastated Joseph and only brought a worsening of Joseph's tragic tale. At the time
1:08
of his mother's death, Joseph's deformities were severe and Mary was essentially Joseph's closest
1:13
and only friend. After Mary's death, Joseph's father, a haberdasher also named Joseph
1:19
married an extremely strict widow named Emma Wood Antill. In all her kindness, she demanded that young Merrick leave school and earn a living
1:26
despite his growing abnormalities, which, as you might imagine, limited his prospects for gainful employment
1:32
However, against all odds, Joseph found a job at a cigar shop. But his career there was short-lived as his right hand soon became too large
1:39
and too clumsy to do the work needed to roll cigars. Since the stipulation of Joseph earning money for the house was still intact
1:46
his father got Joseph a hawker's license to sell gloves. A hawker's license is essentially a license to be a door-to-door salesman
1:53
This career path, too, was short-lived as Joseph's appearance frightened prospective customers
1:58
Needless to say, his sales numbers were very poor, through no fault of his own. But that didn't stop his father from beating him if he came home having made no sales
2:06
At the same time, his stepmother would deny him meals unless he had earned the money to pay for them
2:11
It was at this point that Joseph Merrick decided to leave his father's home. When Joseph was 17 years old, his uncle Charles Merrick took him in
2:18
But this didn't solve the problem of young Joseph finding any gainful employment. Soon after, his
2:23
hawker's license was revoked. And it wasn't just revoked because he wasn't making any sales, it was
2:27
revoked on the grounds that he was terrorizing the community, even though all he was trying to do was
2:32
make an honest living With no other options left Joseph Merrick went into the Leicester Workhouse System which was an institution where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment Of course the workhouses themselves were famous for their cruelty but that was nothing new for young Joseph Merrick
2:48
He stayed in the workhouse for five years before contacting music hall showman and performer Sam Torr
2:54
to see if maybe the right job for him was something he'd been dealing with his whole life
2:58
Maybe strangers should be paying to stare at him. This is an important note because this fact of his life has been misconstrued for dramatic purposes in plays and in movies
3:08
It was in fact Joseph Merrick who sought to show himself as a terrifying oddity as a means of financial support
3:14
This isn't to say that Joseph Merrick was looking for or deserve the unfathomable hardships that his life as a sideshow attraction would bring
3:22
but he wasn't taken advantage of by a brutal manager as is often depicted in dramatizations of his life
3:28
Sam Torr decided that he could indeed make money exhibiting Merrick by essentially turning him to a traveling exhibit
3:35
To accomplish this, Torr organized a group of managers for Joseph Merrick
3:39
Music Hall operator Jay Ellis, a traveling showman named George Hitchcock, and a fare operator named Sam Roper
3:46
It was this team of managers that came up with the name and began selling Joseph Merrick as, quote
3:50
the Elephant Man, advertising him as half man and half an elephant
3:56
Initially, the team showed Merrick around England's East Midlands, including Merrick's hometown of Leicester and nearby Nottingham
4:02
He was then taken to London for the winter season. George Hitchcock, one of Merrick's managers, contacted Tom Norman
4:09
a real showman who ran penny gaff shops in London's East End. A penny gaff was, quote
4:13
a popular entertainment for the lower classes in 19th century England, sometimes exhibiting human curiosities like Merrick
4:21
Without even so much as a meeting, Norman agreed to take over Merrick's management
4:24
and in November, Hitchcock traveled with Merrick to London, where he would begin his next venture
4:30
Upon first seeing Merrick, Tom Norman was initially concerned that Merrick's appearance
4:34
might actually be too horrific to be successful as a novelty. Nevertheless, he decided to show Merrick as the Elephant Man in the back of a shop on Whitechapel Road
4:43
For publicity, Norman decorated the shop with posters that had been made by George Hitchcock
4:47
that played up the whole half-man, half-elephant angle. The exhibit was successful, but it wasn't exactly a smash hit
4:53
In fact, the lion's share of the profits came from sales of a pamphlet that was made about Merrick
4:57
Visitors would purchase it in hopes of learning more about his history and his condition
5:01
Even with it not being a globally famous smash hit, Merrick was able to put away some of the revenue
5:07
Reports indicate that he was hoping to earn enough to one day buy a home of his own
5:11
Quite importantly and rather fortuitously the shop on Whitechapel Road where Merrick was on display was directly across the street from the London Hospital This proved to be an excellent location as medical students and doctors would often come to the exhibit to see Merrick as a medical curiosity
5:26
One such visitor was a young house surgeon named Reginald Tuckett, who was so intrigued by Joseph
5:31
Merrick's deformities that he told his senior colleague, Frederick Trevis, who would become an
5:35
integral part of Merrick's life. A private viewing was arranged for Frederick Trevis to meet with
5:39
and to view Merrick. Trevis later stated that Merrick was, quote, the most disgusting specimen
5:45
of humanity that I had ever seen. At no time had I met with such a degraded or perverted version of
5:51
a human being as this lone figure displayed. After this meeting, Trevis's curiosity wasn't
5:56
sufficiently satisfied. He had his colleague Reginald Tuckett ask Merrick if he might be
6:00
willing to come to the London Hospital for an examination, to which Merrick agreed. Even to get
6:05
the short distance to the hospital for examination, Merrick wore a costume to shield himself from the
6:09
public. The costume consisted of an oversized black cloak and a brown cap with a burlap sack
6:14
to cover his face. During Travis's examination of Joseph Merrick, he made the following reports
6:20
He measured Merrick's head circumference to be 36 inches or 91 centimeters, which is extremely
6:25
large. His right wrist was measured at 12 inches in circumference and one of his fingers at 5
6:29
inches. He also noted that his skin was covered in wart-like growths, the largest of which had an
6:34
unpleasant smell. There were also parts of his body in which his skin sagged and hung away from
6:39
the rest of his body. There were apparent bone deformities in Merrick's right arm, both of his
6:44
legs, and, of course, in his alarmingly oversized skull. Merrick's left arm and hand were normal by
6:49
all accounts and were not deformed. His penis and scrotum were also normal and unremarkable
6:55
Apart from his deformities, Trevis concluded that Merrick appeared to be in good general health
6:59
Joseph Merrick allowed himself to be examined in such a way a handful of times before eventually
7:04
putting an end to it, stating that he felt, quote, stripped naked and felt like an animal in a cattle
7:09
market. At the same time, in Victorian Britain, tastes were changing in regards to freak show
7:14
exhibitions like The Elephant Man. Shows like Norman's were no longer seen as entertainment
7:18
but actually as a growing cause for public concern, as they were beginning to be seen as indecent
7:24
Pretty shortly after Merrick's last examination with Frederick Trevis, the police actually closed
7:28
down Tom Norman's shop, and Merrick's Lester managers withdrew him from Norman's care. With
7:33
that source of revenue now shuttered, Merrick went on the road with Sam Roper's traveling fare
7:38
Unfortunately for all involved, the anti-sideshow sentiment was spreading all throughout Europe
7:42
and the traveling fare really didn't find much success. After several false starts Merrick had no choice but to head back to London with nothing to show for his travels However because the tour was a bust Merrick now had essentially no money to his name and nowhere to go He was not eligible to enter a workhouse in London for more than one night because he was only eligible in Leicester because that where
8:03
he was a legally permanent resident. With no other options, Merrick approached strangers
8:07
for help, but his speech was unintelligible because of his deformities and his appearance
8:11
repulsed the public. At one point, a policeman had to actually help Merrick evade a crowd
8:16
of people gawking at him and harassing him. The policeman helped him into an empty waiting
8:20
room. Merrick tried to explain himself to the police to no avail as he could barely be understood
8:25
and he was sick and exhausted from his travels. Eventually, the police used a calling card Merrick
8:29
had in his possession to contact Frederick Trevis. Of course, recognizing Merrick, Trevis took him in
8:34
a cab to the London hospital and admitted him with bronchitis. Trevis washed him, fed him
8:39
and put him to bed in a small isolation room in the hospital's attic. After a series of logistical
8:44
incidents and even public outcry and donations with concern for Merrick's health, it was decided
8:49
that Merrick should live out the rest of his days at London Hospital. He was moved from the attic to
8:53
two rooms in the basement adjacent to a small courtyard. The rooms were adapted and furnished
8:57
to suit Merrick with a specially constructed bed, and at Travis' instruction, no mirrors
9:03
During his time in the hospital, Joseph Merrick was well cared for by Travis and his staff
9:07
Travis even took the time to learn to decipher Merrick's speech. This was hugely important
9:11
as now Merrick could carry on conversations with his friend and caretaker. Travis visited him daily
9:16
and spent a couple hours with him every single Sunday. Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking revelations
9:20
was that Merrick had spent his entire life isolated from women who were repulsed by him
9:25
And it had become clear to Trevis that Merrick should be introduced to a woman to help him feel normal
9:30
Trevis arranged for a friend of his named Lila Maturin to visit Merrick and she agreed
9:34
with fair warning about his appearance. Her meeting with Merrick was short
9:38
but left a lasting impression on Joseph Merrick. He told Trevis that Maturin was the first woman
9:42
to ever smile at him, the first to ever shake his hand. Maturin stayed pen pals with Merrick for the rest of his days
9:49
Trevis believed that Merrick's hope was to live in an institution for the blind, where he might meet a woman who could not see his deformities
9:56
Merrick's condition gradually deteriorated during his four years at London Hospital. He required a great deal of care from the nursing staff and spent much of his time in bed
10:04
His facial deformities continued to grow and his head became more and more dangerously enlarged
10:09
He died on April 11, 1890, at the age of 27. Travis's house surgeon found him lying dead across his bed
10:16
Merrick had to sleep sitting up with his head resting on his knees because of the size of his skull
10:21
It's believed that he died just trying to lay down and go to sleep like everyone else
10:25
Travis, who performed the autopsy, concluded that Merrick had died of a dislocated neck
10:30
To this day, Merrick's exact medical condition remains unknown