Picture: Alamy Source:Alamy. [12], A pamphlet titled "The Autobiography of Joseph Carey Merrick", produced c. 1884 to accompany his exhibition, states that he started to display anatomical signs at approximately five years of age, with "thick lumpy skin ... like that of an elephant, and almost the same colour". [32], Merrick concluded that his only escape from the workhouse might be through the world of human novelty exhibitions. [9] She was said to have some form of physical disability, and as a young woman worked as a domestic servant in Leicester before marrying Joseph Rockley Merrick, then a warehouseman,[10] in 1861. Some darkened, discolored skin growths were appearing, and they began to look bumpy and rough. National Organization for Rare Disorders. [112] In fact, Proteus syndrome affects tissue other than nerves, and it is a sporadic disorder rather than a genetically transmitted disease. Several factual accounts state that Merrick’s deformities were not extreme until about the age of five—he was born a seemingly normal baby in 1862 in Leicester to Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick. Parts of his body were grossly enlarged. He was not eligible to enter a workhouse in London for more than one night and would be accepted only by Leicester Union, where he was a permanent resident. Like his colleagues, Tuckett was intrigued by the Elephant Man's deformities and told his senior colleague Frederick Treves. Is There a Connection Between Autism and Spirituality? Lumps began to grow under the boy's skin—on his neck, his chest, and the back of his head. Named after his father, he was given the middle name Carey by his mother, a Baptist, after the preacher William Carey. Above: Joseph Merrick's skeleton at the Royal London Hospital. Treves visited him daily, and the pair developed a close friendship. Mary Jane Merrick began to worry about her son, Joseph, and the other boys were starting to make fun of him. [47] Merrick's group of managers decided he should go on tour in continental Europe, with the hope that authorities there would be more lenient. Merrick was admitted for bronchitis, washed, fed and put to bed in a small isolation room in the hospital's attic. [49] Despite the corrective surgery to his mouth in 1882, Merrick's speech remained barely intelligible. The virus can range from non-pathogenic (not causing disease) to highly pathogenic (causing disease and death), and this depends on the strain of Marek’s disease caught. Joseph left school at the age of 13. [27] Merrick continued to hawk around Leicester for the next two years but his efforts to earn a living met with little more success than before. Merrick's management was assumed by an unknown man (possibly named Ferrari) and they left for the continent. [29] On 22 March 1880, only 12 weeks after entering, Merrick signed himself out of the workhouse and spent two days looking for work. 1 In 1986, geneticists Tibbles and Cohen 2 demonstrated that Merrick was actually afflicted with Proteus syndrome, a much rarer condition. What Are the Famous Last Words of the US Presidents? Most people know the rest of the story from the 1980 movie, The Elephant Man, starring John Hurt: how, at first, a doctor, then others including royalty, came to see the intelligent, sensitive man behind the grotesque deformities. John Thomas Merrick, born 21 April 1864, who died of smallpox on 24 July of the same year, was not related to Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick. [87] He stayed at the gamekeeper's cottage and spent the days walking in the estate's woods, collecting wild flowers. [75] This first experience of meeting a woman, though brief, instilled in Merrick a new sense of self-confidence. [35], The showmen named Merrick the Elephant Man, and advertised him as "Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant". She has co-authored two books for the popular Dummies Series (as Shereen Jegtvig). With no more success than before, he found himself with no option but to return to the workhouse. The most likely contender is a recently-discovered genetic condition called proteus syndrome. [133] In 1980, a film The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch, was released; it received eight Academy Award nominations. [2] In 1879, 17-year-old Merrick entered the Leicester Union Workhouse. Born on August 5, 1862, in Leicester, England, Joseph Carey Merrick was the spitting image of health as a baby. Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. His appearance at the meeting of the Pathological Society of London in 1884 drew interest from the doctors present, but none of the answers nor the attention that Treves had hoped for. [86], On three occasions Merrick left the hospital and London on holiday, spending a few weeks at a time in the countryside. Merrick did not limit his hopes to the confines of his body. [92][93] Treves, who performed an autopsy, said Merrick had died of a dislocated neck. Treves's depiction of Tom Norman, the showman who had exhibited Merrick, was that of a cruel drunk who had ruthlessly exploited his charge. When he was just two years old, Joseph Merrick's mother noticed that some areas of his skin began to change. Joseph Merrick was born in Leicester, England on the 5th of August 1862. [18][nb 1] As he grew, a noticeable difference between the size of his left and right arms appeared and both his feet became significantly enlarged. Mary Kugler, RN, is a pediatric nurse whose specialty is caring for children with long-term or severe medical problems. It contained an incorrect date of birth but, throughout his life, Merrick was vague about when he was born.[40]. 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