Welcome to the latest post in my series on disability as entertainment. As you may know, I am currently focusing on the 19th century freak show. Last week, I examined the life of P.T. Barnum. This week, I will be looking at perhaps his most famous performer, Charles Stratton, better known as General Tom Thumb.
Who Was He?
Charles Sherwood Stratton was born on 4th January 1838, weighing a hefty 9 pounds, 8 ounces. However, this relatively large size was not to last as he stopped growing at 6 months old. Although doctors did not understand what was wrong at the time, it is most probable that he had a pituitary gland deficiency. This resulted in restricted growth, leaving him at 25 inches tall until his teenage years. Neither his parents nor his two sisters had the condition.
Being born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where P.T. Barnum became mayor, it is not surprising that the showman found Stratton. It was not only the fact that Barnum was looking for a dwarf to compliment his giants that connected the two. Barnum and Stratton were related, half-fifth cousins, twice removed, to be precise. I know. I know. They were very distant relatives, but it’s good to stay in touch with family. I mean, I wouldn’t recommend bringing them around the world and making them perform. That’s just my opinion though. Barnum offered Stratton’s parents $3 a week to display him in the American Museum in New York. They agreed as they wanted Charles to be of some use.
When Stratton and his mother arrived in the apartment in the Museum that Barnum had arranged for them, they were in for a shock. Being the excellent promoter Barnum was, he had started advertising his new acquirement as soon as he made the deal with his parents. However, it was not Charles Stratton who was being promoted. Instead, the posters told of a General Tom Thumb, a diminutive English general. Tom Thumb was an English folklore figure from the tales of King Arthur. I guess the inclusion of ‘General’ made him sound more important. Hopefully, in the coming months, I will have a series of posts on disability and folklore/myth.
Anyway, where was I? Barnum now had a dwarf to add to his collection, but just staring at a dwarf probably wasn’t all that interesting. So, he taught Stratton a few tricks. Firstly, he told people that the boy was actually 11 years old. This probably increased the level of interest, as 25 inches is incredibly short for a 4-year-old, so for an 11-year-old it’s astonishing. It also helped to decrease criticism for the exploitation of a child. Barnum taught Stratton how to sing, dance, tell jokes, and do impersonations of people such as Napoleon. General Tom Thumb became extremely popular among audiences.
International Stardom
Stratton was performing very well in New York. So much so, that Barnum was paying his parents $50 a week, which was a huge sum of money in the 1840s. Eager to build on this success, Barnum arranged for a tour of England. Which makes sense, as General Tom Thumb was English, right? They were worried as to how English audiences would react because displaying dwarfs for entertainment was not as popular as it was in the U.S. They were right to be worried, receiving a frosty response to their opening shows.
However, everything changed when they were invited to perform for Queen Victoria in 1844. The Queen, her close family and retinue were highly amused by General Tom Thumb. She took him by the hand and paraded him around the room, asking questions as they went. The highlight of the performance was actually when the performance was over. You see, it was royal etiquette to never turn ones back on the Queen, meaning you had to reverse out of the room. This proved tricky for Stratton, due to his small feet. Instead, he ran a few steps then turned and bowed. After repeating this a few times, the Queen’s dog grew impatient. It attacked Stratton, forcing him to defend himself with the walking stick he used as a prop. This greatly entertained the spectators. This visit was such a success, that General Tom Thumb became popular in England and Europe, even performing again for Queen Victoria at a later date.
As a side note, when Stratton was travelling through Ireland, it was during the Irish Famine, when potatoes were destroyed by blight. This led to a huge amount of death and emigration. Stratton (still a child remember) is said to have donated $50 for poor relief, having already donated £100 in London.
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| Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wedding (Wikimedia Commons) |
Marriage and Death
We have reached the final section of this post, which I have decided to call marriage and death. Much like in life, the latter will swiftly follow the former, or at least it will feel that way. Charles Stratton fell in love with another of Barnum’s performers, Lavinia Warren. She too was of restricted growth and Barnum arranged every aspect of their wedding. The ceremony was held at Grace Church, an Episcopal cathedral in New York city on 10 February 1863. A New York Times article from the following day stated that Broadway was packed with people for the event. The couple had 2,000 guests at their reception and addressed them while standing on top of a grand piano. They even stayed in the White House as part of the honeymoon after being invited by Abraham Lincoln. The pair travelled around the world performing, visiting exotic places such as Asia, Australia, and Ottawa. For a while they travelled with a baby. It is most likely that Barnum rented babies from foundling hospitals, but it has been claimed that they had a biological child who lived from 1869-1871.
By the end of his life, Charles Stratton was an incredibly wealthy man. He even helped P.T. Barnum out of debt. Charles and Lavinia had a mansion built for themselves in Middleboro, Massachusetts, which contained specially made small furniture. It was here that Stratton died of a stroke on 15 July 1883, aged 45. A large funeral attended by 10,000 people was held in his honour. A few years later, P.T. Barnum died and was buried close to Stratton’s grave. Even though Barnum was his boss, it seems like they were genuine friends.
While he was controlled for large parts of it, Charles Stratton appears to have had a good life and enjoyed the attention.
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Next week I will be exploring the lives of the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker.
The Wheelchair Historian
Further Reading
Candyguy, ‘General Tom Thumb – The Most Famous Midget’ https://www.thehumanmarvels.com/general-tom-thumb-the-most-famous-midget/ Accessed: 13 November 2020.
, ‘General Tom Thumb: P.T. Barnum’s Most Acclaimed Sideshow Dwarf’, Published: 24 September 2018, Updated: 20 July 2020 https://allthatsinteresting.com/general-tom-thumb Accessed: 13 November 2020.
Kinealy, Christine, ‘PT Barnum circus star General Tom Thumb’s strong links to Ireland’, 1 August, 2019 https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/pt-barnum-general-tom-thumb-links-ireland Accessed: 13 November 2020.
McNamara, Robert, ‘Biography of General Tom Thumb, Sideshow Performer’, Updated: 3 July, 2019 https://www.thoughtco.com/general-tom-thumb-1773621 Accessed: 13 November, 2020.
Powell, James, ‘Remember This? General Tom Thumb visits Ottawa’, Oct 5, 2020 9:00 AM https://www.ottawamatters.com/remember-this/remember-this-general-tom-thumb-visits-ottawa-2760947 Accessed: 13 November 2020.
Talmon, Noelle, ‘General Tom Thumb Was The Most Famous Circus 'Freak' of All Time’, Updated: 28 December, 2018 https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-tom-thumb/nicky-benson Accessed: 13 November 2020.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘General Tom Thumb American showman’, Encyclopædia Britannica, 11 July, 2020 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Stratton Accessed: 28 October, 2020.
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