20th October 2010
Doors at 6 pm, Talk commences at 7 pm
Joseph Carey Merrick was born in Leicester, England in 1862. He began growing disfiguring tumors before the age of two and his condition rapidly worsened, rendering one of his arms completely useless. Nevertheless, he was described as a wonderfully imaginative and intelligent boy, traits that persevered despite his physical deformities. When his mother died in 1879, he ended up in a work house where he no doubt would have died if he didn’t have the good fortune to meet a showman by the name of Sam Torr. Merrick proposed himself as a freak exhibit titled the Elephant Man and after a successful tour of the East Midlands, Merrick travelled to London and became an exhibit in a curiosity shop on the Whitechapel Road, directly across from The London Hospital where he befriended a surgeon named Frederick Treves. Treves and Merrick developed a close friendship which lasted till Merrick’s death at the age of 27 in 1890.
In this lecture, Dr Dean will look medically at the condition from which Joseph Merrick suffered and how he became the Elephant Man. He will also investigate Joseph's response to his condition, looking at the real characters involved in this dramatic story, and we will see how the human spirit and human dignity can triumph and rise above tremendous physical adversity. The talk will also explore how modern techniques such as CAT scans and DNA have been used to try to unravel the medical mystery of the condition from which Joseph Merrick suffered.
Dr Peter Dean
Dr Peter Dean qualified in dentistry before going on to study medicine. While a G.P. in Bethnal Green, he started working part time as a Police Surgeon or Forensic Medical Examiner and, as his interest in forensic medicine developed, he became a coroner after the necessary further legal studies. He now divides his time between working as a coroner and practicing clinical forensic medicine. He advises on the forensic aspects of the television drama series “Silent Witness” and “Waking the Dead” for the BBC and has a particular interest in the historical aspects of the subject.
Talk at 11 Mare Street - please click here to buy tickets
