Skeleton of Irish Giant is to be removed from public display from London Hunterian Museum

Skeleton of Irish Giant is to be removed from public display from London Hunterian Museum from ireland

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  1. The 7ft 7in skeleton of Charles Byrne, the so-called “Irish Giant” from the 18th century, will not be displayed when the museum reopens in March, almost 250 years after Byrne said that he did not wish to be used by anatomists.

    While his withdrawal from public display is in keeping with his wishes, his remains will still be kept available for “bona fide medical research”. A portrait featuring the skeleton by Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the Royal Academy, will be displayed instead.

  3. I assumed that the Irish Giant (Byrne) simply said “I don’t want my body on display.” which should be enough right? But no someone went a lot further than that.

    From Wiki:

    >[John] Hunter had a reputation for collecting unusual specimens for his private museum, and Hunter had offered to pay Byrne for his corpse. As Byrne’s health deteriorated, and knowing that Hunter wanted his body for dissection (a fate reserved at that time for executed criminals) and probable display, Byrne devised a plan. He made express arrangements with friends that when he died his body would be sealed in a lead coffin and taken to the coastal town of Margate and then to a ship for burial at sea. Byrne’s wishes were thwarted and his worst fears realised when Hunter arranged for the cadaver to be snatched on its way to Margate.

    Hunter then reduced Byrne’s corpse to its skeleton and four years later put Byrne’s skeleton on display in his Hunterian Museum.

  4. Is anything in British museums actually British?
    They were worse than the nazis for colonising countries and robbing them of their wealth!
    I thought in this day and age they would have the decency to return artifacts to their countries of origin but even today they feel entitled to them.

  9. So what they are saying, is if they would not be punished for stealing people’s corpses, they would still do it.

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