Michael Howell - The True History of the Elephant Man

The Autobiography of Joseph Carey Merrick

I first saw the light on the 5th of August, 1860, I was born in Lee Street, Wharf Street, Leicester. The deformity which I am now exhibiting was caused by my mother being frightened by an Elephant ; my mother was going along the street when a procession of Animals were passing by, there was a terrible crush of people to see them, and unfortunately she was pushed under the Elephants feet, which frightened her very much; this occurring during a time of pregnancy was the cause of my deformity.

The measurement round my head is 36 inches, there is a large substance of flesh at the back as large as a breakfast cup, the other part in a manner of speaking is like hills and valleys, all lumped together, while the face is such a sight that no one could describe it. The right hand is almost the size and shape of an Elephants foreleg , measuring 12 inches round the wrist and 5 inches round one of the fingers; the other hand and arm is no larger than that of a girl ten years of age, although it is well proportioned. My feet and legs are covered with thick lumpy skin, also my body, like that of an Elephant, and almost the same colour, in fact, no one would believe until they saw it, that such a thing could exist. It was not perceived much at birth, but began to develop itself when at the age of 5 years.

I went to school like other children until I was about 11 or 12 years of age, when the greatest misfortune of my life occurred, namely the death of my mother, peace to her, she was a good mother to me; after she died my father broke up his home and went to lodgings; unfortunately for me he married his landlady; henceforth I never had one moments comfort, she having children of her own, and I not being so handsome as they, together with my deformity, she was the means of making my life a perfect misery; lame and deformed as I was, I ran, or rather walked away from home two or three times, but suppose father had some spark of parental feeling left, so he induced me to return home again. The best friend I had in those days was my fathers brother, Mr Merrick, Hair Dresser, Church Gate, Leicester.

When about 13 years old, nothing would satisfy my stepmother until she got me out to work; I obtained employment at Messrs Freemans, Cigar Manufacturers, and worked there about two years, but my right hand got too heavy for making cigars, so I had to leave them.

I was sent about the town to see if I could procure work, but being lame and deformed no one would employ me; when I went home for my meals, my step-mother used to say I had not been to seek for work. I was taunted and sneered at so that I would not go home to my meals, and used to stay in the streets with an hungry belly rather than return for anything to eat, what few half-meals I did have, I was taunted with the remark Thats more than you have earned.

Being unable to get employment my father got me a pedlars license to hawk the town, but being deformed, people would not come to the door to buy my wares. In consequence of my ill luck my life was again made a misery to me, so that I again ran away and went hawking on my own account, but my deformity had grown to such an extent, so that I could not move about the town without having a crowd of people gather round me. I then went into the infirmary at Leicester, where I remained for two or three years, when I had to undergo an operation on my face, having three or four ounces of flesh cut away; so thought I, Ill get my living by being exhibited about the country. Knowing Mr Sam Torr, Gladstone Vaults, Wharf Street, Leicester, went in for Novelties , I wrote to him, he came to see me, and soon arranged matters, recommending me to Mr Ellis, Bee-hive Inn, Nottingham, from whom I received the greatest kindness and attention.

In making my first appearance before the public, who have treated me well in fact I may say I am as comfortable now as I was uncomfortable before. I must now bid my kind readers adieu.

Was I so tall, could reach the pole,

Or grasp the ocean with a span;

I would be measured by the soul,

The minds the standard of the man.

The Elephant Man, amplified from an account
published in the British Medical Journal

In November, 1886, a letter appeared in The Times from Mr Carr Gomm, chairman of the London Hospital, drawing attention to the sad case of Joseph Merrick. The letter attracted the notice of the charitable public, and through their very generous subscriptions the Hospital authorities were enabled to admit Merrick as a permanent inmate.

JOSEPH MERRICK is the subject of a very terrible congenital deformity, of so extreme a degree that he cannot venture into the streets, nor indeed into the garden of the Hospital. He cannot travel in any public conveyance nor mix with his fellow men. But for the kindness of his now numerous friends he would be cut off from all the common enjoyment of life.

Merrick is now about 27 years of age and was born of respectable parents in Leicester. Neither his father nor mother nor any of his relatives were in any way deformed. When quite a child his appearance was not sufficiently marked to attract any special attention, but by the time he had reached adult life the deformity of the face and limbs had attained to so extreme a degree that the unfortunate man was unable to follow any employment and physically prevented from learning any trade. His mother died when he was young, and his father, having married again, practically cast him off. There was nothing for him to do but to exhibit himself as a deformity in a penny show. Some features in the conformation of his head and limbs suggested the title of The Elephant Man, and as such Merrick was exhibited. He was dragged about from town to town and from fair to fair, and lived a life that was little better than a dismal slavery.

He was not treated with actual unkindness, but lived a life of almost solitary confinement, broken only when he appeared before a gaping and terrified audience as a hideous example of deformity.

Early in 1886 Mr Treves, one of the surgeons of the London Hospital, saw him as he was being exhibited in a room off the Whitechapel Road. The poor fellow was then crouching behind an old curtain endeavouring to warm himself over a brick which was heated by a gas jet. As soon as a sufficient number of pennies had been collected by the manager at the door, poor Merrick appeared in front of the curtain and exhibited himself in all his deformity. Merrick had a share in the proceeds of the exhibition, and by the exercise of great economy he had amassed nearly 50. The police, however, began to interfere and the exhibition was prohibited as against public decency. Unable to earn his livelihood by exhibiting himself any longer in England, he was persuaded to go over to Belgium, where he was taken in hand by an Austrian who acted as his manager. In Belgium, however, the exhibition was very soon prohibited by the police, and the miserable man and his manager were hunted from place to place. As soon as the Austrian saw that the exhibition was pretty well played out, he decamped with poor Merricks very hardly saved capital of 50 and left him alone and absolutely destitute in a foreign country. Fortunately, however, he had something to pawn, by which he raised sufficient money to pay his passage back to England, for he felt that the only friend he had in the world was Mr Treves, of the London Hospital. He, therefore, though with much difficulty, made his way to London. At every station and landing place the curious crowd so thronged and dogged his steps that it was not an easy matter for him to get about. Indeed, at the quay great objections were raised to his being taken on board the steamer. When he reached the Hospital he had only the clothes in which he stood. For some time Merrick occupied a little ward in the attics, while every attempt was made to find him a permanent resting place. He had the greatest horror of the workhouse, and there seemed little to recommend the frequent suggestion that he should be placed in a blind asylum. The Royal Hospital for Incurables and the British Home for Incurables both declined to take him even if sufficient funds were forthcoming to pay for his maintenance for life. The subscription that was the result of Mr Carr Gomms letter enabled the Hospital authorities to accept Merrick as a permanent resident. A room was built for him on the ground floor in a remote wing of the Institution. This room was comfortably furnished as a bedroom and sitting room, and to it was added a bathroom, for to Merrick a bath is not merely a luxury but, from the nature of his affliction, a daily necessity.