Bowker, Agnes (b. 1541/2), servant and alleged mother of a cat, was the daughter of Henry Bowker, a yeoman or butcher of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and suffered from fits of 'the falling sickness' or epilepsy. Although she described being once sent to live in ...
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![Cover Merrick, Joseph Carey [the Elephant Man] (1862–1890)](/cover/searchableMedia/odnb-9780198614128-e-1007376-graphic-1-thumbnail.jpg)
Joseph Carey Merrick [the Elephant Man] (1862–1890) by unknown photographer, c. 1889 Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum
Article
Peter Osborne
Merrick, Joseph Carey [called the Elephant Man] (1862–1890), freak show novelty and medical curiosity, was born at 50 Lee Street, Leicester, on 5 August 1862, the elder son (there was also a daughter) of Joseph Rockley Merrick (b. 1835/6), a warehouseman and machine operator in a cotton factory, and ...
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![Cover Moore [née Peg], Ann (b. 1761)](/cover/searchableMedia/odnb-9780198614128-e-19095-graphic-001-thumbnail.jpg)
Ann Moore (b. 1761), by Anthony Cardon, 1812
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Rosemary Mitchell
Moore [née Peg], Ann (b. 1761), the fasting woman of Tutbury, was born on 31 October 1761 at Rosliston, Derbyshire, the daughter of a labourer and sawyer, William Peg. She went into domestic service, and in 1788 married a fellow farm servant, ...
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Mary Toft (bap. 1703, d. 1763) by John Faber junior (after John Laguerre) © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Philip K. Wilson
Toft [née Denyer], Mary (bap. 1703, d. 1763), the rabbit-breeder, daughter of John and Jane Denyer, was baptized at Godalming, Surrey, on 21 February 1703. She married Joshua Toft, a journeyman clothier, about 1720. They had three children, Mary, Anne, and James...
