Exhibition and Death
Caroline Crachami first came to public notice in April 1824, when she was exhibited in London by a 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.
She died in June 1824, apparently of a respiratory ailment, probably tuberculosis. A week later her real father, Louis Emmanuel Crachami, a musician at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, 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 dryer 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 Crachami's efforts, Caroline's body was acquired by the anatomist John Hunter, who dissected it. To this day, her skeleton is on display in the Hunterian Museum along with that of Charles Byrne, the "Irish Giant".
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