| Description | Folder of material regarding George Alexander [Gratton]. Contains two handbills, colour portrait, life insurance agreement (1810-1811), two copies of a lease agreement (1810), and two printed pedigree charts showing families with partial albinism. Charts are mounted and labelled 'K', probably one of the extra 'continuation' pedigree figures for 'Albinism in Man'.
File previously catalogued as 'Material Relating to the Spotted Negro Boy'. |
| AdminHistory | George Alexander [Gratton] was born to enslaved parents on a sugar cane plantation on the Carribean island of St Vincent in 1808. It is likely that his names Alexander and Gratton were given to him to denote the owner of the plantation, William Alexander, and the plantation overseer, Richard Gratton. In 1809, aged just 15 months, George was sent to Bristol and sold to travelling showman John Richardson for 1000 guineas. Having been born with a skin condition known as 'piebaldism' George was named 'The Beautiful Spotted Boy' and was used by Richardson as a 'living curiosity' in his shows. Within a few years of arriving in England, George died in February 1813, from 'a gathering about the jaw'.
Source: https://georgealexandergratton.com/ |