Peter in a detail of a painting by William Kent at Kensington Palace
Born
Birth name unknown
c. 1713
Place of birth, unknown; probably somewhere in or near Hanover, Germany.
Died
February 1785 (aged 71–72)
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England
Other names
Peter the Wild Man
Known for
feral child
Peter the Wild Boy (born c. 1713; died 22 February 1785) was a boy from Hanover in northern Germany who was found in 1725 living wild in the woods near Hamelin (Electorate of Hanover), the town of the Pied Piper legend. The boy, of unknown parentage, had been living an entirely feral existence for an unknown length of time, surviving by eating forest flora; he walked on all fours, exhibited uncivilized behaviour and could not be taught to speak a language. It's been speculated that he suffered from the very rare genetic disorder Pitt–Hopkins syndrome.
Peter was found in the Hertswold Forest by a party of hunters led by George I while on a visit to his Hanover homeland and brought to Great Britain in 1726 by order of his daughter-in-law Caroline of Ansbach, the Princess of Wales.[1][2]
^Extract from the parish register of St Mary's Church, Northchurch, Hertfordshire: "Peter, commonly known by the name of Peter the Wild Boy, lies buried in this church-yard, opposite to the porch. – In the year 1725, he was found in the woods near Hamelen, a fortified town in the electorate of Hanover, when his Majesty George I with his attendants, was hunting in the forest of Hertswold. He was supposed to be then about twelve years of age, and had subsisted in those woods upon the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. for some considerable length of time. How long he had continued in that wild state is altogether uncertain; but that he had formerly been under the care of some person was evident from the remains of a shirt-collar about his neck at the time when he was found. As Hamelen was a town were criminals were confined to work upon the fortifications, it was then conjectured at Hanover, that Peter might be the issue of one of those criminals who had either wandered into the woods, and could not find his way back again, or, being discovered to be an idiot, was inhumanly turned out by his parent, and left to perish, or shift for himself. – In the following year, 1726, he was brought over to England, by the order of Queen Caroline, then Princess of Wales, and put under the care of Dr. Arbuthnot, with proper masters to attend him. But, notwithstanding there appeared to be no natural defect in his organs of speech, after all the pains that had been taken with him he could never be brought distinctly to articulate a single syllable, and proved totally incapable of receiving any instruction." Reprinted in Scots Magazine, vol. 47, p. 588. https://books.google.ie/books?id=SisoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA588&#v=onepage&q&f=false
^"The feral girl Marie-Angélique - Peter the Wild Boy". Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
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