Small and daring: the world's most famous dwarf, loved on both sides of the ocean

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Despite his small stature, Charles Stratton gained such fame in his time that all of America, Europe and Asia spoke about him. He was rich, famous, talented, people loved him, newspapers wrote about him. Charles, by his example, proved that it is not necessary to be tall and handsome in order to get the sincere affection of people.

The most famous dwarf in history is Charles Sherwood Stratton. He was born on January 4, 1838 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His parents were of normal height, and Charles himself was born a very large child weighing 4.5 kg. However, when he was six months old, he suddenly stopped growing. And when he was four years old, he was still the same size as he was at the age of six months.

Phineas Taylor Barnum, founder of the world famous Circus of Barnum and Bailey, found Charles just when he was 4 years old. Having signed a contract with the child's father, Barnum took Charles to his place and began to train for the performance. The kid was taught singing lessons, pantomime, taught him to portray famous people. Charles, despite his height, was very capable and quite soon he began performing in front of the public in New York.

Just a year later, when Charles was five years old, Barnum took him on a tour of Europe. Having overcome the way across the ocean, the circus began touring European countries and instantly became a sensation, and Charles - at that time he had already received the stage name General Tom Thumb ("Tom Thumb") became the main star of the performances. The boy even performed in front of Queen Victoria, and a little later performed his numbers at the Vaudeville Theater in Paris. The best scenes, the eminent audience - the success was simply incredible.

The boy became popular throughout Europe, he toured with the circus not only in Europe, but also in America, and even in Japan. General Tom-Tam has become a real world celebrity. By the age of 18, he has grown a little more, and now has become almost 90 centimeters in height. Glory brought Charles a lot of money, and in the end he became so rich that when his former master Barnum went bankrupt, General Tom-Tam made a deal with him, making him his business partner, and thus saved him from complete bankruptcy.

When Charles was 25 years old, he married Lavinia Warren, a sweet girl who, like him, was dwarf in stature. They got married in one of the churches in New York and had a big party at the Metropolitan Hotel. All newspapers wrote about this event, this news appeared on the first pages. The newlyweds were even received by President Lincoln at the White House.

Together with his wife, Charles continued to travel and perform throughout Europe and Asia. He continued to put on shows, even when he was already over 40 and his height increased to 102 cm. At some point, he decided to leave performances aside and settled in America with his wife. General Tom-Tam died of a stroke at the age of 45 at his home in Massachusetts. Ten thousand people attended his funeral. His wife Lavinia died 35 years later.

You can find out how tall the current leaders and politicians of the past are in our review " Napoleonic complex: the shortest giants in history."