From Margaret - The Little Count

This article about the LITTLE COUNT was sent to me - I thought it might interest others.
From the Geordie Diary Facebook page:

5 September 1837
‘Died, at Bank Cottage, near Durham, in the 99th year of his age, Count Joseph Boruwlaski, the celebrated Polish dwarf, a native of the province of Pokucia, in Polish Russia.

This extraordinary person, though only thirty-six inches in height, was perfectly symmetrical in figure, and he enjoyed excellent health to a very late period in life. His lively genius and engaging manners caused him to be much noticed when he arrived in this country, and having been seen by some of the prebendaries of Durham, he was prevailed upon by that body to take up his abode in the above cottage, they engaging to allow him a handsome income, which he enjoyed up to his death.’

There is an image of an engraving of our very own Polish Count standing next to Patrick Cotter O’Brien, who was known as the Bristol Giant or the Irish Giant.  Patrick was approximately 8’ 1”. (He was the tallest person alive at that time.)  Estimates of Joseph Boruwlaski’s height vary; one of his friends believed he continued to grow as an adult, even into old age. Whatever the truth, it is likely that he would have been over 36” tall by the time of any meeting shown in the drawing so the difference in their heights as shown is more than a tad exaggerated.

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