Józef Boruwłaski

Józef Boruwłaski (1739–1837) was a Polish-born dwarf and musician who toured in European and Turkish courts.

Józef Boruwłaski was born near Halicz in Poland in November 1739. His parents seem to have been impoverished gentry, but it is impossible that Józef had any real claim to the title of 'Count' as there were no similar Polish aristocratic titles. This may relate to the practice of giving show dwarfs military titles, such as General Tom Thumb. Two of his five siblings were also short, but he did have a brother who grew to be 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) in height, and died in battle as a soldier. Given the proportions of his body, and the fact that in adulthood he was sometimes mistaken for a small child, it is likely that Józef was a pituitary dwarf, not a dwarf of the achondroplasic variety. The Starostin de Caorlix took a shine to the short boy and adopted him. After her marriage her acquaintance the Countess Humiecka took charge of Boruwłaski and took him to her estate at Rychty in Podolia. The Countess was able to persuade the Starostin to give up her little companion by reminding the Starostin of the old superstition that a woman who sees a dwarf during pregnancy may give birth to a dwarf.

When Boruwłaski was fifteen and 64 cm (25 inches) tall, the countess took him to Vienna, where he was presented to Empress Maria Theresa, a lady Józef describes as the 'Queen of Hungary' in his autobiography. Well-mannered Boruwłaski apparently impressed one of the empress's children so much that she gave him a diamond ring. The story that this child was the young Marie Antoinette (then called Maria Antonia) does not fit the dates – Boruwłaski may have become confused because all the daughters of the empress had the first name 'Maria'.

Later the countess took him to Lunéville to see the ex-king of Poland, Stanisław Leszczyński. There he aroused the jealousy of Nicolas Ferry, the court dwarf of the Leszczyński household, who was nicknamed Bébé. On one occasion Ferry attacked Boruwłaski and tried to throw him into the fire; Leszczyński separated them and had Ferry whipped.

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