PATRICK COTTER O'BRIEN (c1761-1806). Irish giant being measured by a tailor during a visit to England,by John Kay,1803. "The Irish Giant",was over 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) - contemporary accounts had him over 8 feet high. His gigantism was the result of inherited pituitary tumouring. Byrne's family lived in northeast Tyrone. His parents were not unusually tall. At 21 he left Ireland,and travelled to London. He found work at Cox's Museum as a living display. He moved in next door to a custom apartment with large furniture. He soon became the toast of the town but took to drinking excessively and died in June 1783 at the age of twenty-two. It was said that Byrne paid fishermen to bury him at sea,but after being bribed by John Hunter the fishermen pulled the corpse back and sold it to the surgeon. His skeleton now resides in the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / Stewart, Paul D. |
Bildgröße: | 3506 px × 5045 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: | - |