The Little Count - Jen Straughan

Many of us are familiar with at least some aspects of Józef Boruwłaski because of the artifacts and memorabilia held in Durham Town Hall and Jen filled out the story in a short but informative talk.

Born in 1739 and growing to no more than 3ft 3in tall, Boruwlaski was feted in royal courts around Europe and was given the rather spurious title of Count.  Jen told us that when the Count was in Scotland, difficulty in pronouncing his name resulted in it being corrupted to "barrel o'whisky".  (Say it quickly and you'll see what she means!).

Tiring of travelling, Boruwlaski eventually accepted an offer from Thomas Ebdon, the organist at Durham Cathedral at the time, to live in a cottage he owned (not the so-called Count's House), located on the banks of the River Wear, below the Cathedral.  Józef Boruwłaski lived there happily until his death on September 5, 1837, at the age of 97.  He is buried in Durham Cathedral.

Much more information about the Count is available on Wikipedia (as ever!).