John Hunter, at Earl's Court, Kensington, 1764-1793.

  • Merriman, John Jones.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: John Hunter, at Earl's Court, Kensington, 1764-1793. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ 1787. “ Dear Sir Joseph,—I have these two days been draining the pond, or rather fishing for pearls, the success of which you will see by the specimens. Those I had made the experiments on were dead, but there is one recent. I have a few alive that I mean to pm under experiment; but I shall open the shell and put in the extraneous body. If any other method suggests itself to you, be so good as to inform me, I would not have you make Lady Banks a present of them; I hope to get better, at least as large as my thumb. I lately got a tall man, but at the time could make no particular observations. I hope next summer to be able to show you him. “I am, dear Sir Joseph, Your much obliged, “JOHN HUNTER.” This “ tall man ” was doubtless O'Brien, the famous Irish giant, whose skeleton, eight feet high (and for which John Hunter is said to have paid £500), is in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. “ In tire dead of night the body was removed in a Hackney coach, and having been carried through several streets, was transferred to Hunter’s own carriage, and conveyed immediately {to Earl’s Court. Fearing lest a dis- covery should take place, Hunter did not choose to risk the delay which the ordinary mode of preparing a skeleton would require; accordingly the body was cut to pieces, and the flesh separated by boiling ; hence has arisen the brown colour of the bones, which in all other respects form a magnificent skeleton.” There is a very old copper cauldron still fixed in a small room about 28 paces down a subterranean passage, entered by a sunk way five feet deep. Close to this are dens of various sizes, but the largest of all is at tee east end of the grounds, near the great gate columns This den is formed by earth raised to a considerable height, surmounted by castellated brick work, from which there must have been an extensive view in the old days, and on which possibly a mounted gun protected the premises and the valuable col- lection. The triple compartments face the house ; they are strong^ bricked, and guarded by gates only at the present time. EXTRACT FROM FAULKNER’S HISTORY OF KENSINGTON, 1820. Of the Manor of Earl’s Court, in the Parish of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex. “ In this retreat he had collected many kinds of animals and birds, and it was to him a favourite amusement in his walks to attend to their actions and their habits, and to make them familiar with him. The fiercer animals were those to which he was most partial, and he had several of the bull kind from several parts of the world. Among these was a beautiful small bull he had received from the Queen, with which he used to wrestle and play, and entertain himself with its exertions in its own defence. In one of these con- tests the bull overpowered him and got him down, and had not one of the servants accidentally come by, and frightened the animal away, this frolic would probably have cost him his life. The refinement of taste, and pursuit of that knowledge wdiicli contributes most to raise our admiration and gratitude to a First Cause, could not be more strongly attended to than in this delightful retreat.