The Irish Giant
Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/Osteo. 223
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionHunterian
CategoryDry preparations
Object nameSkeleton, gigantism, Acromegaly, Pituitary Neoplasms, General Osteology of Man
TitleThe Irish Giant
DescriptionThe articulated skeleton of Charles Byrne (1761-1783), known as the 'Irish Giant'.
Charles Byrne was one of several 'Irish Giants' who exhibited themselves for show in Britain in the late 18th century. Although contemporary newspapers claimed Byrne to be over eight feet tall he was actually about 7’ 7” (2.31m). After Byrne's death John Hunter purchased his body for £130 and displayed Byrne's skeleton in his museum.
As a young man Byrne's height drew the attention of a showman called Joe Vance who persuaded Byrne exhibit himself for profit. Byrne took the stage name ‘O’Brien’, claiming descent from the High Kings of Ireland. Others used both the name and the title 'Irish Giant', such as the giant Patrick Cotter (1760-1806) who is often confused with Byrne.
Byrne and Vance arrived in London on 11 April 1782 and Byrne became a popular source of entertainment. Not all were impressed: the surgeon Sylas Neville (1741-1840) saw Byrne in July 1782 and described him in his diary as 'an ill-bred disagreeable beast'. Byrne was in poor health and the loss of his life's savings prompted his decline and eventual death on 1 June 1783.
Byrne was aware that several anatomists - including Hunter - were anxious to acquire his corpse. He reputedly responded by paying for his body to be buried at sea. Despite this Hunter purchased Byrne’s remains, which were taken to his house at Earl's Court. Hunter later displayed Byrne's skeleton in his museum in Leicester Square, where it formed one of the highlights of his collection. A variety of stories have grown up around Hunter's procurement of Byrne's body: these appear to have become more exaggerated over the course of the 19th century. Hunter is variously described in these later accounts as having bribed the undertaker (with amounts ranging from £500 to £800) to substitute Byrne's body for rocks, without the knowledge of Byrne's friends. In fact, it is more likely that Hunter simply paid Byrne's friends for the body, which they had exhibited for profit for several days after Byrne's death. The body was taken to Hunter's house at Earl's Court and prepared as a skeleton. It was not exhibited by Hunter for several years, perhaps because he feared criticism over its acquisition. However the preparation of the skeleton would have taken some time. In addition, between late 1783 and 1785 Hunter was in the process of moving his museum collection to his new house at Leicester Square, so there may also have been practical reasons for not putting it on show. The feet of the skeleton were include in the portrait of John Hunter painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1786 (see related records) and the skeleton was among the exhibits in Hunter's museum when he began to give regular public tours of his collection in 1788. Newspaper reports of these tours record Hunter as saying he had paid £130 for the body - far less than the later accounts, but still a significant sum. There was no contemporary criticism levelled at Hunter for owning or exhibiting the skeleton, which formed part of a series illustrating the normal and abnormal growth of human bones.
Hunter did not leave any direct record or description of Byrne's skeleton, and it is not known whether he had any theory to explain its size. It is now known that Byrne’s skeleton shows evidence of pituitary giantism, in which excessive growth is accompanied by a delay in the onset of puberty. Pituitary giantism is caused by over-production of growth hormone from the pituitary gland in the base of the skull. Growth after puberty leads to acromegaly, in which bones become thicker rather than longer. In 1891 the physiologist Daniel Cunningham (1850-1909) suggested Byrne suffered from acromegaly. In 1909 the American neurologist Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) persuaded Arthur Keith to examine the inside of Byrne’s skull. As Cushing had expected, Keith found that the pituitary fossa (the cavity in which the pituitary gland sits) was enlarged, proving the existence of a tumour.
A shoe, boot, stockings and a glove worn by Charles Byrne are also preserved in the Hunterian Museum (RCSHM/Osteo. 223.1 and 2). The collection also includes Thomas Rowlandson's drawing of Byrne surrounded by an admiring crowd (RCSSC/P 296).
Production date 1783
Preparator
Owner/user
Patient/subject
presented
Related objectsRCSSC/P 296RCSHC/Osteo. 223.2RCSHC/Osteo. 223.1RCSSC/P 121RCSHM/Z 196
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionArticulated skeleton on metal stand.
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
NotesThis catalogue contains a lengthy account of Charles Byrne.
SourceFlower 1879
pp.24-25
NotesDimensions are given in mm. The codes for the cranial dimensions are as follows: C= Horizontal circumference, taken above the glabella and round the most prominent part of the occiput. L= Length, from the ophryon to the most prominent part of the occiput. B= Breadth across the parietals. Bi= Index of breadth, (B x 100)/L. H= Height from basion to bregma. Hi= Index of height, (Hx100)/L. Ca= Capacity in cubic centimetres. These details are given in the introduction to Flower's catalogue of human osteology.
Transcript223. The articulated skeleton of Charles Byrne, who was exhibited in London as "O'Brian [sic], the Irish Giant," and died in 1783. O.C. 5905. The following record of the death of the individual to whom this skeleton belonged is extracted from the 'Annual Register Chronicle', June 1783, vol. xxvi. p. 209:- "In Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, aged only 22, Mr Charles Byrne, the famous Irish Giant, whose death is said to have been precipitated by excessive drinking, to which he was always addicted, but more particularly since his late loss of almost all his property, which he had simply invested in a single bank note of £700. Our philosophical readers may not be displeased to know on the credit of an ingenious correspondent who had opportunity of informing himself, that Mr Byrne, in August 1780, measured eight feet; that in 1782 he had gained two inches; and after he was dead he measured eight feet four inches. Neither his father, mother, brother, nor any other person of his family, was of an extraordinary size." The above-named heights are evidently exaggerations, as the actual height of the skeleton, in which due allowance appears to be given for the intervertebral substance, is only seven feet seven inches. The posterior molars are in place; and the epiphyses of the long bones are united, though the crests of the ilia and posterior borders of the scapulae are still free. The corresponding limb-bones of the opposite sides present great differences in dimensions. The bones of the cranium are thick and massive. The glabella, supraorbital ridges, mastoid processes, all the muscular ridges and the bones of the face, and especially the lower jaw, are greatly developed; but the alveolar arches and teeth are scarcely larger than those of a man of ordinary stature. The squamosal joins the frontal for more than half an inch on the left side, but does not quite reach it on the right. The frontal region is low and retreating, and the cranial cavity small for the external size of the skull. Height 2310 = 7 feet 7 inches. Clavicle, r. 228, l. 220; humerus, r. 450, l. 430; radius, r. 334, l. 325; hand r. 255, l. 256; femur, r. 625, l. 642; tibia, r. 541, l. 537; foot, r. 325, l. 318. Cranium: C.593, L.214, B.148, Bi.692, H.147, Hi.687, Ca.1520. A clever contemporary sketch of O'Brian by Rowlandson hangs in the office of the Conservator of the Museum: and a boot and slipper which he wore are preserved with the skeleton.
SourceOwen 1853 Vol. 2
Transcript5905. The skeleton of an Irishman of abnormal stature *.
It measures eight feet, in a straight line from the vertex to the sole, and belonged to the individual who was exhibited, under the name of O'Brian, or Byrne, as the Irish Giant.
The cranium presents the long and narrow form: it is proportionally much depressed, and with a narrow, low, and retreating forehead; the cavity for the brain not exceeding that of a European of ordinary stature: but the upper, and especially the lower, jaws are powerfully developed, the chin being very prominent. The malar bones are moderately prominent. The bones of the rest of the skeleton are well proportioned to the extraordinary height of the individual, with the exception of the bones of the upper extremity, which are relatively shorter. The humerus, which, in the adjoining skeleton, reaches to the labrum of the ilium, in the present does not extend below the last pair of ribs. The metapophyses become distinct upon the eleventh dorsal, and are continued, together with the anapophyses, upon the twelfth dorsal and first lumbar, in which, as well as on the second lumbar, the anapophyses are well marked. The. diapophyses are unusually lengthened out in the third lumbar, become shorter in the fourth, and very strong and thick in the fifth lumbar. The neural arch is completed over the fifth as well as the preceding sacral vertebrae. The diapophyses of the first coccygeal vertebrae are unusually developed. The neck of the left thigh bone is longer than that of the right.
Hunterian.
* The following record of the death of the individual to whom the skeleton belonged is extracted from the' Annual Register Chronicle,' June 1783, vol. xxvi. p. 209 :-
"In Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, aged only 22, Mr. Charles Byrne, the famous Irish Giant, whose death is said to have been precipitated by excessive drinking, to which he was always addicted, but more particularly since his late loss of almost all his property, which he had simply invested in a single bank note of £700.
"Our philosophical readers may not be displeased to know, on the credit of an ingenious correspondent who had opportunity of informing himself, that Mr. Byrne, in August 1780, measured eight feet; that in 1782 he had gained two inches; and after he was dead, he measured eight feet four inches.
"Neither his father, mother, brother, nor any other person of his family, was of an extraordinary size."
It has been said, that in his last moments he expressed an earnest desire that his ponderous remains might be sunk out at sea; but if such were his wish, it was never fulfilled, as Mr. Hunter obtained his body before interment of any kind had taken place.
