Bradley Cooper has portrayed him on Broadway , and so has Billy Crudup . Even David Bowie and Mark Hamill have ask turn of events playing a diachronic figure many masses may not agnise by name , but have almost certainly heard about : Joseph Merrick , otherwise known as the Elephant Man .
Born in Leicester , England on Aug. 5 , 1862 , Merrick came to be remember for a soubriquet that reference thephysical attributes of his unidentified illness . With a giant , misshapen skull , scaly skin , curving spine and " trunk - like " growth on his look , Merrick eventually launch a brief career based on his disfiguration , as a professional " nut " on exhibition in London .
Symptoms Began Appearing in Childhood
Merrick began experiencingodd symptomsaround the age of 5 , though he had been hold as a level-headed child to parents Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick . symptom startle with egotistical lips , a growing brow clod , and increasingly light and rough skin . The size of his headeventually grewto a circumference of 3 feet ( 0.9 meters ) , and the skin across his grimace became spongy . He developed increasing deformations in his jaw , which deflower his speech , and his veracious wrist and hand became fin - like over time . As his legs and pelvic girdle took on abnormalities as well , he came to swear on a walking stick .
According to Joanne Vigor - Mungovin , generator of " Joseph : The Life , Times and Places of The Elephant Man , " Merrick had two younger sibling : William Arthur , who exit in an 1870smallpoxepidemic , and Marian Eliza , whose death certificate says she was " halting " from nascency with an unknown ailment . " Merrick blend in to schooling , probably the schooling attach to the Baptist church where his female parent taught Sunday schooling , " Vigor - Mungovin says . " His Padre worked in many factories , but also have a haberdashery store and an vegetable oil and lamp franchise . "
Merrick ’s mother died in 1873 when he was 11 twelvemonth old . " It ’s not really recognise when he started showing signs of his impairment or whether his mother love of her Logos ’s illness before she died , " Vigor - Mungovin says . " He take care school like any other baby , went to church and left school at the normal shoal leaving age . It seems that lifespan for Merrick was the same as a typical child uprise up in Leicester in the 1870s . "
Merrick left schooling at historic period 13 and went to work in a cigar factory . " The job lasted two years and during those two years , his disfiguration was acquire defective , " Vigor - Mungovin says . Merrick then got his hawker ’s licence in club to help his father sell good from his shop in the street of Leicester , and eventually checked himself into the Leicester Union Workhouse and lived with his uncle .
" Merrick was a run - class human from Northern England who had labored at inexpert jobs since the geezerhood of 11 , first in a cigar manufactory , and later as a peddler,“Nadja Durbach , account prof at the University of Utah , write via e-mail . " push out of his place by his stepmother , who discover him grotesque , he had taken shelter with a sort uncle , but had also populate in chintzy lodging house before finally arrest himself into the workhouse where he remained for almost five old age . "
A Mysterious Illness
As for the cause of Merrick ’s disfiguration , the account is still more or less of a enigma . He himself reportedly believed that his strong-arm characteristics were aresult of his mother ’s confrontation with an elephant , but expert originally thought they were induce byelephantiasis . Now , scientist consider Merrick suffer from an extremely hard casing of von Recklinghausen’s disease and/or a rarified disease calledProteus syndrome .
In 1884 , Merrick made a lifetime - changing decision . " He decided to check himself out [ of the workhouse ] to put himself on display as a ' addict , ' " Durbach says . Merrickreached outto Sam Torr , the owner of a Leicester euphony Radclyffe Hall called the Gaiety Palace of Varieties . Soon , Torr was exhibit Merrick as " The Elephant Man , Half - mankind , Half - Elephant " and he achieved great local success before move his act to London . To avoid harassment in public , Merrick often put on a mantle and veil to conceal his appearance .
" I am concerned in him because he deliberately choose to show himself as a ' freak ' because he felt that this was a form of labor and he prefer honest piece of work and realize his own living and the independence that provide to charity or governance welfare , " Durbach allege .
A sawbones named Frederick Treves come across Merrick ’s report and invite him to visit his infirmary for an examination . At that item , Merrick ’s point had develop to a perimeter of 36 in ( 90 cm ) and his right wrist measured 12 inches ( 30 cm ) around . He had tumor covering his entire consistency and now exclusively walk with a cane , but Treves found he was otherwise in good wellness . Treves introduce Merrick to the Pathological Society of London and asked him to come back to the hospital for more exams . But Merrick refuse . He afterwards said the experience made him feel like " an creature in a cattle market . "
" Merrick was a very autonomous and intelligent young man , " Vigor - Mungovin enunciate . " No one storm him into demo himself — this was his decision . He could either live out his days in the bleak , sick , harsh Leicester Union Workhouse , or go out there and make a liveliness for himself . Merrick choose life . "
Merrick relocate and test to find succeeder in Belgium , but he was study advantage of by an unscrupulous manager there , who plume him of his life story saving and abandoned him . The sum that was stolen from him was considerable , indicating that he had been able to make a decent living and detect some success . By June 1886 , Merrick was able to find a passenger ship back to England , where he was subsequently hold " incurable " by doctors at the London Hospital . The chairman of the infirmary , Francis Carr - Gomm , published a letterin The Times identify Merrick ’s case and requesting assistance . The alphabetic character garnered an onslaught of financial donations , which Merrick was able to habituate for housing through the remainder of his life sentence .
Merrick ’s condition , however , continued to aggravate , and on April 11 , 1890 , he wasfound deadat old age 27 , lying vapid on his back in bed . Because of the sizing of his head , he ’d spend the majority of life sleep upright , resting his headway against his human knee . " I reckon that people should sympathize that it is highly likely that Merrick practice suicide , " Durbach says . " It appears that he requested to be release from the hospital so that he could recall to the show world , but his financial support net outside the infirmary was repeatedly denied access to him . There is really no better explanation for his death than he understood that lying flat would pass to his death . "
Durbach says Merrick was also very probable keenly mindful of his fortune . " The most interesting thing about Merrick is that he sympathize that after his death , he would become an anatomic specimen for display by the hospital that had claimed to give him refuge , " Durbach says . " He used to verbalise about ending up ' in a immense nursing bottle of alcohol , ' indicate that he believe that the hospital was not really that unlike from the freak show . "
While many report claim Treves was Merrick ’s close friend and confidante ( he evenwrote a book about him ) , Durbach state that likely was n’t the case . " Treves did n’t even call back that his name was Joseph , calling him ' John ' in his memoirs , " she says . " Thus I do n’t guess Treves knew him that well or care much for him . "
When Merrick died , the hospital declared that there would be no post mortem , but it did take tissue paper samples and made body casts , presenting one to the Royal College of Surgeons , " presumptively for installation in the Hunterian Museum alongside the remains of ' the Irish Giant ' and the ' the Sicilian Fairy , ' " Dubach says . " Thomas Horrocks Openshaw , the pathological specimens curator at the London Medical College ’s Pathological Museum , then denude the body of its flesh and seethe down the bones for joint , as the House Committee had decided that the underframe should be set up in the College Museum . " Merrick ’s lone life was cap by an neutral , unceremonious end in which an undertaker dispatch his remaining flesh and intimate organ and buried them in an unmarked grave .
" If Treves and the infirmary cared for Merrick , why did they not inhume his clay in a pronounced grave alternatively of throw away of them in this cheap room ? " Durbach say . " I recall they just go steady him as a pathological specimen . "
Joseph Merrick’s Story Continues to Resonate
Over the tenner since his dying , Merrick has been immortalise in mark and on level and screen . Bernard Pomerance magnificently created the 1979 play based on his life , andDavid Lynch ’s filmstarred John Hurt , Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft .
One hundred and thirty year after his passing , Merrick ’s tale persist in to agree a exceptional spot in the hearts of people like Vigor - Mungovin . " I experience in his hometown and grow up with story of ' The Elephant Man , ' " she says . " It go with the film , watching the bullying Merrick endured and experience what he was snuff it through . I was boss around all the way through school from baby’s room to gamey schooling , I never fit in , I was shy , dyslexic , and had a foreign surname which never help . I am also exceedingly concerned in the chronicle of Leicester , immensely proud of our past times and our stories . I call up watching the picture show and thinking , ' this guy wire is from Leicester and there is no reference to his childhood , his life sentence , his family at all . ' That had to alter . "
Vigor - Mungovin is adamant that Merrick ’s bequest is about much more than the medical mysteries smother his lifetime . " Whatever illness he did stand from , it does not delimitate him as a human being , " she tell . " He suffered greatly with his ailment and life history produce up in cultivate class Leicester , hardships were never far away . Merrick had an inquisitive judgement , he excelled in arts and workmanship , a business acumen which saw him turn his disadvantage into an advantage and with the support he did receive from his managers , doctors and protagonist , the great unwashed that fit Merrick see to it beyond his deformity and straightaway took to him and that is a testament to no other but the Isle of Man himself . "
