Caroline Crachami (1815 – 4 June 1824) was the first person recognised to have

primordial dwarfism Primordial dwarfism (PD) is a form of dwarfism that results in a smaller body size in all stages of life beginning from before birth. More specifically, primordial dwarfism is a diagnostic category including specific types of profoundly proportion ...

. Sometimes cited as the smallest person in recorded history, she was nine years old or less at the time of her death, and it is unlikely that she had finished growing. Crachami was said to have been born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, Italy, and she was known as the " Sicilian

Fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

" or "Sicilian

Dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...

." She was only about 50 cm tall at the time of her death; it was claimed that at birth she had weighed only one pound (454 grams) and measured about tall.

Exhibition and death

Crachami first came to public notice in April 1824, when she was exhibited in London by Dr. Gilligan, who initially claimed to be her father. She was a great success, attracting many distinguished visitors, and was presented at Court. Observers noted that she appeared of normal intelligence for a child of her supposed years, had a good command of spoken English, and suffered from a bad cough.Bondeson, Op. cit. She died in June 1824, apparently of a respiratory ailment, probably

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. A week later her real father, Louis Emmanuel Vogel, a musician at the

Theatre Royal, Dublin Over the centuries, there have been five theatres in Dublin called the Theatre Royal. In the history of the theatre in Great Britain and Ireland, the designation "Theatre Royal", or "Royal Theatre", once meant that a theatre had been granted a ...

, arrived in London and began legal attempts to retrieve his daughter's body for burial. He claimed to have consulted Dr. Gilligan in Dublin about Caroline's health. Gilligan apparently prescribed a trip to a drier climate, and offered to take Caroline to London if he could exhibit her to cover the costs of the trip. After her death he attempted to sell her body for anatomisation, then left London with the proceeds of the exhibition. Despite her fathers efforts, Caroline's body was acquired by the

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

John Hunter John Hunter may refer to: Politics *John Hunter (British politician) (1724–1802), British Member of Parliament for Leominster * John Hunter (Canadian politician) (1909–1993), Canadian Liberal MP for Parkdale, 1949–1957 *Sir John Hunter ( ...

, who dissected it. Her skeleton is no longer on display in the

Hunterian Museum The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

along with that of Charles Byrne, the "Irish Giant".

Doubts over her reported age

Studies of Caroline Crachami's skull in the 1950s put her dental age range at only 2 to 7 years old, a finding confirmed in 1998. It was suggested that Caroline was in fact 3 years old at her death, rather than 9, although contemporary reports of her abilities and language suggest an older child, and make this a matter for debate.

References

Sources

*Wood, Gaby. ''The Smallest Of All Persons Mentioned In The Records Of Littleness''. Profile, 1998, * *Hopkins, Charlotte. “The Ballad of Caroline Crachami: The Sicilian Fairy” (London, 2022

Caroline Crachami at Everything2.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crachami, Caroline 1815 births 1824 deaths People from Palermo Entertainers with dwarfism Sideshow performers Italian people with disabilities

Exhibition and death

Doubts over her reported age

See also

References

Sources