Right next to the magnificent Tattershall Castle in the village of Tattershall, Lincolnshire, stands the remarkably well-preserved fifteenth-century Holy Trinity Church. Inside, it’s hard not to notice that the church has seen better days. However, no one viewing the incredible stained glass window, the gorgeous medieval ceiling, or the remarkable seventeenth and eighteenth centuries monumental brasses can fail to be touched by the beauty of the building. As well as the striking architectural features, there is one spot in the church that has been the subject of debate, curiosity, and speculation – a small grave, just 16 inches wide and inscribed with the words, ‘T. Thumb/Aged 101/Died1620’. Touchingly, a small vase of flowers, can always be found next to the tiny grave.
So, who was T. Thumb, did whoever it was really live to 101 years old, and do they have any link to the first fairytale printed in the English language, Tom Thumb?
The First Printed English Language Fairy Tale
Tom Thumb was the first fairy tale printed in English. It’s believed to have been written by a man called Richard Johnson who was born in the latter half of the sixteenth century. The 40-page booklet printed in London in 1621, had the ‘short’ title of, ‘The History of Tom Thumbe, the Little, for his small stature surnamed, King Arthur’s Dwarfe: whose Life and adventures containe many strange and wonderfull accidents, published for the delight of merry Time-spenders’. Only one surviving copy is known to survive and is kept in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.[1]
The Fairy Tale of Tom Thumb
In Johnson’s popular version a poor ploughman named Thomas and his wife are unable to have children. Thomas’ wife visits the wizard Merlin, to see if he will use his magic to help them have a baby. Thomas tells her to say to Merlin, that he would be happy to have a child, any child, even if that child was no bigger than his thumb. Three months later, their wish is granted, and they are blessed with a tiny boy who they name Tom Thumb.
Chaos and adventure follows Tom as he grows up. He plays with the local boys and because of his small size can sneak into the other boys’ pockets and cheat. One day during one of these games, he accidentally gets himself locked inside a box that one of the boys is carrying. Due to constantly getting into trouble, his mother decides that Tom would be safer if he stays at home. However, even at home or with his parents, trouble seems to follow him. One Christmas, he falls into a pudding his mother was cooking. Unaware, her son is inside, she gives the pudding to a tinker, who fortunately discovers Tom before he swallows him. Next, Tom is swallowed by a cow while his mother is in the field, milking the cows. Tom leaves the cow via the other end and is taken home. For the unfortunate Tom, being swallowed seems to become a hobby.
While he is in the field with his father, he gets picked up by a raven and dropped off at a giant’s castle. The giant eats him and then vomits him out because a rather irate Tom, being extremely unhappy with the situation, makes digestion impossible. He’s vomited out into the sea, where he gets swallowed by a fish. The fish is caught and and is being prepared as a dish for King Arthur when luckily the cook discovers Tom and releases him, before he is swallowed by anyone else. Tom is then presented to King Arthur and becomes a favourite of the King and the court, in particular the ladies.
Despite his new status, he doesn’t forget his parents and often returns home to give them money. On one of his trips, he falls asleep on a rose and is found by the Queen of the Fairies. She leaves him some magical items: an enchanted hat of knowledge, a ring that grants him invisibility, and a shape-shifting girdle. The fairy tale then goes on to recount some of Tom’s further adventures, in which has to use his wits to get out of trouble. [2]
By far the most popular part of the story is how he is found in the pudding. This part of the tale seems to have caught the public’s imagination and is mentioned in a few sources, including in James Field’s 1611 book, Coryat Crudities where he writes, ‘Tom Thumbe is dumbe, until the pudding creepe, in which he was intomb’d, then out doth peepe’. [3]
Tom Thumb and the Fey
Other versions of his tale, put more stress on Tom Thumb’s fairy connections. For instance, some versions mention that the Queen of the Fairies and her attendants acted as midwives at Tom’s birth while in James Orchard Halliwell’s epic poem, he says that the Fairy Queen gave Tom his name and his clothes at his christening. These clothes include garters made from 2 little hairs from his mother’s eye, shoes made from a mouse’s skin, an oaken leaf hat, a shirt made from a spider’s web, and a thistle down hose and doublet[4]. As well as receiving clothes, his name, and magical items from the Queen of the Fairies, Tom was also said to spend time in fairyland whenever he was injured or in need of rest.
This link between the fey and Tom Thumb is not surprising. One of the earliest mentions of Tom Thumb is in 1584, in Reginald Scot’s book, Discoverie of Witchcraft. Here Scot mentions how stories about Tom Thumb alongside other fey and supernatural creatures such as elves, dwarves, giants, changelings, and fairies were told by servants to frighten children[5]. This suggests that Tom Thumb was already a popular folklore character in oral storytelling before he ever appeared in print.
Tattershall’s ‘T. Thumb’
This brings us back to the grave of T. Thumb in Holy Trinity Church in Tattershall. The grave would have had to be the burial place of or memorial to a real person. It’s not likely that the church’s religious leader would have, during this period of devout Christianity, allowed an empty grave inside the church to be dug to honour a mythical character. Let alone a character of supernatural origins.
Some people have wondered if the folk story of Tom Thumb was based on the life of whoever was buried in the church. Some evidence to support this is the name, the size of the grave, and the date of his or her death. Based on the dates, if they are correct (and 101 years is a remarkable age to live to nowadays, let alone in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), T. Thumb would have been born in 1519, long before Tom Thumb was first mentioned in print and have died a year before Johnson’s account was published. Could the early writers and Johnson have known about the T. Thumb of Tattershall – yes, it’s possible. Could they have created a story using a real-life figure – of course.
However, while, I think it’s a lovely idea that the grave in the church contains the remains of the ‘real’ Tom Thumb, I personally don’t find this argument credible. Partly my scepticism is due to Scot having listed Tom Thumb alongside other fey and supernatural creatures. In addition, whereas people with dwarfism were not necessary treated well and may have been viewed with suspicion, there’s not enough evidence to suggest that at that time, they were seen as a product of witchcraft or supernatural practices. Besides, even if they were, the fact that T. Thumb was buried inside the church, a place usually reserved for eminent and well-respected members of the local community, suggests that whoever T. Thumb was, he or maybe she was an important or well-loved figure. So, instead of T. Thumb giving their name to the fairy tale character, maybe T. Thumb was named after Tom Thumb.
Jeffrey Hudson: The Queen’s Dwarf
Any discussion on this subject could not leave out mentioning Jeffrey Hudson, one of the most famous dwarves in English history and who lived very close to the time to T. Thumb.
Hudson was born a year before T. Thumb died in 1619, in Oakham in the East Midlands. He lived with his parents, 3 brothers, and a half-sister. Hudson’s family were poor with his father eking out a living as a butcher. The family believed that Jeffrey’s height was the result of his mother choking on a gherkin while she was pregnant[6]. The belief that eating the wrong foods could result in deformities or abnormal births was quite a common view in this period.
When Jeffrey was 7 years old, he was presented to the Duchess of Buckingham as a gift. He was said to be a ‘rarity of nature’[7], as unlike other people with dwarfism, Jeffrey, standing at 18 inches was perfectly proportioned. Shortly afterwards, the Buckinghams were visited by King Charles I and his young queen, Henrietta Maria of France. To ingratiate themselves with the royal couple, the Duke and Duchess put on a lavish banquet for them. During the meal, a spectacular pudding was carried into the banqueting hall by 2 footmen and to the sound of trumpets and placed in front of the Queen. The pudding was gilded in gold leaf and 2 feet high and 2 feet wide. The pudding suddenly began to move and out popped Jeffrey dressed in a miniature suit of armour[8]. Jeffrey paraded up and down the banqueting table and into the Queen’s heart. Again, the pudding would have immediately reminded everyone there of the tale of Tom Thumb.
When the Queen left, she took Jeffrey with her, and he became an important part of her court. Jeffrey was intelligent, witty, and loving and the Queen adored him, spoiling him. During this period, royalty owning dwarves was common and many courts boasted a royal dwarf. Jeffrey proved himself loyal, staying by his Queen’s side at the outbreak of the English Civil War and even fighting in her defence. When the Queen left for France, she took Hudson with her. However, his time in France was cut short when a taunt ended up with Hudson calling out Charles Croft, the brother of the Queen’s Master of Horse. During the duel, Hudson killed Croft. The penalty for duelling in France was death. The Queen managed to save Hudson’s life, but he was banished from France.
On his return journey to England, Hudson was captured by Barbary pirates and enslaved for 25 years. It’s said that during his time in slavery he suffered terribly. Somehow, he managed to escape back to England and to Oakham. Hudson died in 1682 and was buried in an unmarked grave and at an unknown location[9].
The House That Tom Built
The main reason for mentioning Jeffrey Hudson is to get a glimpse of how people with dwarfism were treated during this period. There is no doubt that Hudson had a better life with the Queen than he would have had if he had stayed with his parents. However, he was still treated more as a pet than a person. His reaction to the taunt which may have been made about his height might have been the final straw for him, causing him to snap. This leads us back to T. Thumb and how he or she would have been treated when they were alive. Were they treated well and were they respected? Again, the fact that they were buried inside the church does suggest that they were, or that they were linked to or under the protection of someone important in the area.
So, if we accept the fact that T. Thumb was real and based on the size of the grave about 18 inches tall, who were they?
Unfortunately, there is no surviving documentation attesting to who they were. If records ever existed, they were lost a long time ago. The only remaining evidence that may give some clue to the existence of T. Thumb apart from the grave, is a tiny house that came to be known locally as ‘Tom Thumb’s House’[10].
In 1961, the miniature house was taken down from its position above the ridge of a Mr R. Wright’s grocery shop in the village’s market place. It had been removed for repairs, as it was thought to be damaged and at risk where it was. The fact that so much care was taken with the little building shows how much pride and fondness the people of Tattershall still had for the building and the legend or story of T. Thumb. In the 1960s, T. Thumb of Tattershall was obviously a well-know story that reached further that the boundaries of the village or local area since a representative of the Ministry of Works in London, Mr G.C. Dunning came to examine the small building[11].
On examination the small house was found to be made from a red terracotta tile and in the shape of a medieval hall. It is 11 inches long, 8¾ inches wide and a foot high. There are 3 keyhole-shaped windows along the sides and 2 small round windows at each end. The house was dated to the seventeenth century, which would tie in with the date of the grave. After it was repaired, it was securely cemented back in place and can still be seen today.
Looking at the evidence, it’s highly unlikely that this was the home of whoever was buried in the church. For one thing it’s far too small and for another climbing up that steep roof would be a feat for anyone, however tiny they were. This then raises the question, what was the real link between the unknown person buried in that grave, the fairy tale, and the tiny house. Did the people at the time really believe that Tom Thumb lived among them, so much so, they made a house for him? Did they name the person buried in the grave after the fairy or in honour of him? Did the people of Tattershall, at that time, know something we don’t? And did the article written in the Louth Standard hold a grain of truth when it said, ‘Perhaps Tom was more than a legend’[12].
[1] Tom Thumb, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thumb
[2] Dr Oliver Tearle, A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Tom Thumb’ Fairy Tale, https://interestingliterature.com/2021/03/tom-thumb-fairy-tale-summary-analysis/
[3] James Orchard Halliwell, 1860, London, The famous history of tom thumb wherein is declared his marvellous acts of manhood
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] The amazing life of Jeffrey Hudson, the queen’s dwarf, https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/amazing-life-jeffrey-hudson-queen-henrietta-maria-dwarf/
[7] Jeffrey Hudson – The dwarf of the English court who rode a horse and shot a pistol, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/15/jeffrey-hudson/
[8] Ibid
[9] Ibid
[10] Louth Standard, Friday 16 June 1961
[11] Ibid
[12] Ibid
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