Derry man Byrne grew to 7' 7' and his body was bought after his death by the museum's founder.
THE HUNTERIAN MUSEUM at the Royal College of Surgeons of England has decided to stop displaying the skeleton of a 7 foot 7 Irishman when the museum reopens next month.
From 1786, three years after Byrne’s death, until 2017, his skeleton was on display at the museum despite growing pressure to bury the body at sea in accordance with Byrne’s wishes. The Hunterian Museum was named after John Hunter, a distinguished surgeon and anatomist who bought Byrne’s body shortly after his death.
“John Hunter and other anatomists and surgeons of the 18th and 19th centuries acquired many specimens in ways we would not consider ethical today and which are rightly subject to review and discussion.” When the Hunterian Museum first announced in 2018 that its board of trustees were considering what to do with the skeleton, Muinzer predicted “it would be very hard for the museum to reopen with the skeleton on display“.
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