The unmarked grave of the “Elephant Man”, Joseph Merrick, has been traced after more than a century to an east London cemetery, it has been claimed.
Merrick was born in Leicester with severe skeletal and soft tissue deformities to his head, back and right hand, which saw him dubbed the Elephant Man.
While his skeleton has been kept at the Royal London Hospital since he died in 1890, author Jo Vigor-Mungovin has claimed she has found where his soft tissue was buried.
Ms Vigor-Mungovin, who has written a biography of Merrick, said “after weeks of emails, research and visits” she has located his grave in the City of London Cemetery, in Aldersbrook.
Today after weeks of emails, research & visits to the #CityofLondonCemetery the final resting place of #JosephMerrick has been located. His bones are @BHAandM for medical purposes but his flesh/remains were buried in consecrated ground after a small service. #Leicester R.I.P pic.twitter.com/MNSSf68Bh2
— Jo Vigor-Mungovin (@Berliozjo)
May 3, 2019
She said: “His bones are [at the] Royal London Hospital for medical purposes but his flesh/remains were buried in consecrated ground after a small service.”
Merrick, who died aged 27 after being asphyxiated by the weight of his own head, is thought to have had a rare genetic disorder known as Proteus syndrome.
He worked for years in a Leicester workhouse before being set up as a travelling exhibit in 1884 and then taken into London Hospital by doctor Frederick Treves.
Ms Vigor-Mungovin told the BBC talk of his soft tissue being buried separately had not been followed up due to the number of graveyards in use at the time.
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| The skull of Joseph Merrick |
"I was asked about this and off-hand I said 'It probably went to the same place as the Ripper victims', as they died in the same locality,” the author said.
"Then I went home and really thought about it and started looking at the records of the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium near Epping Forest, where two Ripper victims are buried.
"I decided to search in an eight-week window around the time of his death and there, on page two, was Joseph Merrick."
She said the records made it “99 per cent certain” this is the Elephant Man, adding that it is “too much to be a coincidence”.
"The burial is dated 24 April 1890, and Joseph died on 11 April,” she told BBC. "It gives his residence as London Hospital, his age as 28 - Joseph was actually 27 but his date of birth was often given wrong - and the coroner as Wynne Baxter, who we know conducted Joseph's inquest.”
Ms Vigor-Mungovin has said authorities have said a small plaque could be made to mark the spot.
