I have been meaning to write about Joseph for some time now. His tragic story, filled with cruelty and social exclusion, is a testament to his resilience and, ultimately, his dignity. This is the story of the person behind The Elephant Man, a man who faced unimaginable challenges with unwavering strength.
Joseph (sometimes wrongly referred to as John) Merrick was born on 5th August 1862 in Leicester, England. While his mother was pregnant with him, she had been startled by an elephant from a visiting circus; she would later be convinced that this was the cause of the condition that would blight his short life.
Around the age of 5, Joseph’s body began to change; his body began to distort with inexplicable lumps and folds of skin. Unfortunately, his appearance began to differ so much that his body was reminiscent of an elephant's skin, a comparison that would haunt him and define him in the eyes of most.
Joseph’s childhood was fraught with difficulties; even his family recoiled from how he looked. His mother died when he was 11 years old, and it didn’t take long for his father to remarry. After the wedding, Joseph’s father abandoned his child on the dirty streets of Victorian England, and the child moved in with his uncle for a time. His didn’t last as Joseph couldn’t help financially; he struggled with jobs because of his deformities and ended up in the notorious workhouse.
Unhappy with the conditions and opportunities provided by the workhouse, Joseph was forced to resort to extreme measures to survive. He wrote to Sam Tor, a local proprietor, hoping he could make a living by exhibiting himself in the ‘freakshows’ that were so popular at the time. Sam advertised him as ‘The Elephant Man – half a man, half an elephant!.’
Tom Norman was a showman who took over Joseph’s management and moved him to London. When he first laid eyes on him, Tom was worried. Was this person in front of him too horrific, too deformed to be a successful exhibition? However, he set Joseph up in the back of a shop in Whitechapel on an iron bed with a simple curtain to provide privacy and rounded the public up.
‘Ladies and gentlemen ... I would like to introduce Mr Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. Before doing so I ask you please to prepare yourselves—Brace yourselves up to witness one who is probably the most remarkable human being ever to draw the breath of life.’
The shop in Whitechapel was opposite the Royal London Hospital and, on recommendation from a colleague, Dr Frederick Treves asked for a private viewing of Joseph. He later wrote in his 1923 Reminiscences that Joseph was ‘the most disgusting specimen of humanity that I had ever seen [...] at no time had I met with such a degraded or perverted version of a human being as this lone figure displayed.’
Dr Treves was a skilled surgeon and, intrigued by Joseph’s condition, offered to study him at the hospital. At first, Dr Treves assumed Joseph to be an ‘imbecile’ due to his lack of coherent speech.
He measured Joseph’s head circumference at the enlarged size of 36 inches (91 cm), his right wrist at 12 inches (30 cm) and one of his fingers at 5 inches (13 cm) in circumference. He noted that Joseph’s skin was covered in papillomata and that the subcutaneous tissue appeared to be weakened, causing a loosening of the skin, which, in some areas, hung away from the body. There were bone deformities in the right arm, legs, and skull. Despite having had corrective surgery to his mouth in 1882, Joseph’s speech remained barely intelligible. His left arm and hand were considered normal. Despite this, Dr Treves concluded that Joseph appeared to be in good general health. Dr Treves presented Joseph to the Pathological Society of London, but, eventually, Joseph refused to be examined and displayed anymore, saying he was ‘stripped naked and felt like an animal in a cattle market’.
During this time, the novelty of the freakshow started to wane, and with a new manager, Joseph took his ‘act’ to Europe. He was no more successful there, and to make the situation even worse, his manager stole his money. He managed to make his way back to London, where a mob attacked him, terrified and threatened by his unusual appearance. The police picked up Joseph and took him into custody, where they contacted Dr Treves; the doctor admitted him to the hospital and began treating him for bronchitis. Joseph was kept well-fed, washed, and placed in a small, isolated attic room.
Joseph’s true personality began to shine away from prying eyes, and he was described as a well-spoken, intelligent young man. He was allowed to live out his days in the hospital, being moved to two rooms in the basement adjacent to the courtyard. His rooms were furnished to suit him, including a specially made bed. Dr. Treves visited him daily, and they built a genuine friendship.
Joseph enjoyed reading and constructing models of buildings out of cards, and he gained the confidence to walk around the courtyard after dark. He started entertaining many guests, including royalty, and his self-esteem grew as women spoke to him without fear and men would shake his hand. Joseph even managed to fulfil his ambitions of attending the theatre in Drury Lane, and going on holiday.
Although things were looking up for Joseph, sadly, his health was declining, and his head had continued to grow in size. On the 11th of April 1890, Joseph Merrick died in his sleep. He was 27 years old.
Joseph always slept sitting up due to the risk of the weight of his head either snapping his neck or suffocating him, but he was found lying down. Dr Treves believed this to be deliberate, saying, ‘He often said to me that he wished he could lie down to sleep 'like other people' ... he must, with some determination, have made the experiment ... Thus, it came about that his death was due to the desire that had dominated his life—the pathetic but hopeless desire to be 'like other people'.
Even in death, Joseph wasn’t entirely viewed as human, with his skeleton still on display for medical students at Queen Mary University; he was a devout Christian, and there are many arguments for him to be given a religious burial. The rest of his body was buried in the City of London Cemetery.
It still hasn’t been pinpointed what condition Joseph suffered, although there has been speculation that it could be neurofibromatosis or, most likely, Proteus Syndrome.
Today, Joseph’s memory is immortalised in film, literature, and humanity’s consciousness, a reminder of the importance of empathy and the need to see beyond outward appearance.
Thanks for reading; take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
Hi! I spend a lot of time writing for the website, and I basically exist on caffeine and anxiety - if anybody would like to encourage this habit, please feel free to buy me a coffee!
You May Also Like:
Comments