The “Irish giant”, a centrepiece of the Hunterian anatomical museum in London, could be released to allow the remains to be given a respectful burial after more than two centuries on display.
The skeleton is that of Charles Byrne, an 18th-century man who had a genetic form of gigantism that caused him to grow to more than 2.31 metres (7ft 7in) tall.
Before dying, Byrne asked his friends to ensure he was buried at sea in a lead coffin to prevent gravediggers exhuming his remains and selling them to the medical establishment. Byrne’s plan was thwarted, but in recent years the museum has come under increasing pressure to honour the Irishman’s final wishes.
Now the museum, which has just closed for three years for refurbishment, says it is considering doing so.
In a statement, a Royal College of Surgeons spokesman said: “The Hunterian Museum will be closed until 2021 and Charles Byrne’s skeleton is not currently on display. The Board of Trustees of the Hunterian Collection will be discussing the matter during the period of closure of the museum.”
Byrne was born in 1761 and left his hometown in County Derry in his teens to find fame and fortune. After travelling through northern England as a “curiosity act” he became a London celebrity, inspiring a pantomime called the Giant’s Causeway, and moved into an apartment in Charing Cross.
However, Byrne soon entered a downward spiral. When his life savings were stolen in a pub he began drinking heavily, and subsequently contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of just 22. A newspaper of the time noted that “a whole tribe of surgeons put in a claim for the poor departed Irishman surrounding his house just as harpooners would an enormous whale”.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
