Joseph merrick bio

Man with severe deformities (1862–1890)

"The Elephant Man" redirects here. For other uses, see The Elephant Man (disambiguation).

For the Jamaican missionary, see Joseph Merrick (missionary).

Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English artist known for his severe physical deformities.

He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, in Whitechapel, after meeting Sir Frederick Treves, subsequently becoming well known in London society.

Joseph merrick bio

Merrick was born in Leicester and began to develop abnormally before the age of five. His mother died when he was eleven,^[1] and his father soon remarried. Rejected by his father and stepmother, he left home and went to live with his uncle, Charles Merrick.^[2] In 1879, 17-year-old Merrick entered the Leicester Union Workhouse.^[3] In 1884, he contacted a showman named Sam Torr and proposed that he