Related events:

1. Sunday 5th of August 1860 (+) — Joseph Merrick is born.
   Merrick began to develop swellings on his lips at the age of 21 months followed by a bony lump on his forehead and a loosening and roughening of the skin. The Merrick family explained his symptoms as the result of his mother Mary Jane Potterton being knocked over and frightened by a fairground elephant while she was pregnant with Joseph.