General Tom Thumb

Charles Stratton, more commonly recognized as General Tom Thumb, is considered one the most famous dwarf circus performers to ever exist under P.T. Barnum. Stratton was born and raised in Bridgeport Connecticut in 1838. As he began to grow, Stratton’s parents noticed he stopped growing around six months of age. When his parents took him to the doctor, they discovered that he would never reach normal height the rest of his life. When he was four years old, he only grew one inch from when he was six months old.

A very distant relative of Charles heard about him and thought his height was remarkable and pursued to teach Charles how to sing, dance, mime, and even impersonate famous figures. This distant relative was Phineas (P.T.) Barnum. Barnum was fascinated by Stratton and decided to take him on tour across Europe, where he performed in front of thousands of people, including Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. After a three-year tour across Europe, Stratton began an international tour and ventured to the United States. He was a star of many melodramas of P.T. Barnum, who tried to emphasize not only Stratton’s size, but his numerous talents as a performer.

Stratton began to grow rather slowly around age 18, where he stood at 2 feet 8 inches, and eventually reached his final height of 3.25 feet. He went on and married another tiny person named Lavinia Warren in 1863, who was also a popular performer. After their wedding, they took on touring together in Europe. As Stratton’s career continued to peak, he became quite a wealthy man. Barnum began to experience financial trouble, but Stratton bailed him out and they eventually became business partners. Stratton’s final performance as Tom Thumb was in England in the year 1878.

A few months after Stratton and Warren survived a tragic house fire, he suddenly had a stroke and died unexpectedly at the age of 45. There were over 20,000 people who attended Stratton’s funeral. P.T. purchased a life-size statue of Tom Thumb and had it placed on top of his tombstone. Lavinia died 35 years later and was buried next to him.


To find out more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-30034409

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/a-beautiful-friendship-general-tom-thumb-and-pt-barnum-1.3353575

http://mentalfloss.com/article/50078/true-stories-behind-11-famous-sideshow-performers