'Cricket' was reportedly 103
He and his pygmy family were described in the newspaper ads, as the "smallest race of people in the world. They are in charge of the celebrated African traveller and lecturer, American, Dr J. A. Fritz".
Mr Cricket stood 4' 4" and he and his family were shown up and down the country, from Invercargill, in Feb 1890. while Mr Fritz gave talks on physiology and phrenology. Mr Cricket, his wife and son would join Fritz on stage for 'entertainment' at a time when the fascinating secrets of Africa were being discovered by European explorers.
Adelaide, 31 July 1890
In the Exchange-room, Town Hall, this evening, Professor J. A. Fritz, phrenologist and antamist, will begin a short lecture season on phrenology. Besides a large collection of excellent models and charts, he has with him a family of Bosjesmans, the smallest human race in the world, natives of Central Africa.
Nelson Evening Mail, 4 Feb 1891
Dr J. A. Fritz, an American citizen, who has been an African traveller and a phreneological lecturer, in March last, secured a family of Bosjesmans, or pigmies, consisting of father, mother and son, who, he states, are of the same race of little people described by Stanley in his "Darkest Africa." (Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841-1904) Dr Fritz stated that although he could not positively assert such to be the case, still he had reason to believed that the head of the family was a hundred years old. The old gentleman plays some weird kind of music on a bow with his fingers, to which the lad dances a kind of double shuffle. The two males also perform what is described as a war dance to a song sung in a monotonous voice.
In Feb 1891, whilst Fritz was staying in Woodville to give lectures, 'Mr Cricket' passed away from 'old age and bronchial affection' and was buried here in Old Gorge cemetery.
A couple of days after the funeral Fritz was on his way to Dannevirke to lecture and "exhibit two of the Pigmies" then on to Feilding & Palmerston North. I'm guessing the wife & son, who were no doubt mourning their loss, no longer had their hearts in the dancing and singing on stage expected of them because Fritz left them stranded in Palmerston while he headed north to Auckland and beyond, eventually returning to America.
NZ Mail, 22 Jan 1892
The Pygmies When 'Dr' Fritz travelled round this quarter of the globe he brought with him a couple of 'pygmies which he said came all the way from the 'Dark Continent' and belonged to the tribe discovered by Stanley. These two little people were stranded at Palmerston North when their patron left for other parts. On Wednesday, when Stanley was at Palmerston, we learn that the Africans were presented to him. The Standard says that after Mr Stanley had talked Zanzibari to them and endeavoured to arrive at some idea of the nationality, he said they were not pygmies, but merely small Negroes from the South of Africa. With a gift of half a sovereign each the couple departed quite happy.
Despite the crowds turning out to see them in this year long tour, no photos appear to have been taken (or have not survived), their names were not recorded and nothing appears to have been recorded of the lives of the wife and son after Fritz left them, nor of their deaths or burials here. I would like to think Mr Stanley took them back to Africa after his 1892 visit but nothing found on this.
He and his pygmy family were described in the newspaper ads, as the "smallest race of people in the world. They are in charge of the celebrated African traveller and lecturer, American, Dr J. A. Fritz".
Mr Cricket stood 4' 4" and he and his family were shown up and down the country, from Invercargill, in Feb 1890. while Mr Fritz gave talks on physiology and phrenology. Mr Cricket, his wife and son would join Fritz on stage for 'entertainment' at a time when the fascinating secrets of Africa were being discovered by European explorers.
Adelaide, 31 July 1890
In the Exchange-room, Town Hall, this evening, Professor J. A. Fritz, phrenologist and antamist, will begin a short lecture season on phrenology. Besides a large collection of excellent models and charts, he has with him a family of Bosjesmans, the smallest human race in the world, natives of Central Africa.
Nelson Evening Mail, 4 Feb 1891
Dr J. A. Fritz, an American citizen, who has been an African traveller and a phreneological lecturer, in March last, secured a family of Bosjesmans, or pigmies, consisting of father, mother and son, who, he states, are of the same race of little people described by Stanley in his "Darkest Africa." (Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841-1904) Dr Fritz stated that although he could not positively assert such to be the case, still he had reason to believed that the head of the family was a hundred years old. The old gentleman plays some weird kind of music on a bow with his fingers, to which the lad dances a kind of double shuffle. The two males also perform what is described as a war dance to a song sung in a monotonous voice.
In Feb 1891, whilst Fritz was staying in Woodville to give lectures, 'Mr Cricket' passed away from 'old age and bronchial affection' and was buried here in Old Gorge cemetery.
A couple of days after the funeral Fritz was on his way to Dannevirke to lecture and "exhibit two of the Pigmies" then on to Feilding & Palmerston North. I'm guessing the wife & son, who were no doubt mourning their loss, no longer had their hearts in the dancing and singing on stage expected of them because Fritz left them stranded in Palmerston while he headed north to Auckland and beyond, eventually returning to America.
NZ Mail, 22 Jan 1892
The Pygmies When 'Dr' Fritz travelled round this quarter of the globe he brought with him a couple of 'pygmies which he said came all the way from the 'Dark Continent' and belonged to the tribe discovered by Stanley. These two little people were stranded at Palmerston North when their patron left for other parts. On Wednesday, when Stanley was at Palmerston, we learn that the Africans were presented to him. The Standard says that after Mr Stanley had talked Zanzibari to them and endeavoured to arrive at some idea of the nationality, he said they were not pygmies, but merely small Negroes from the South of Africa. With a gift of half a sovereign each the couple departed quite happy.
Despite the crowds turning out to see them in this year long tour, no photos appear to have been taken (or have not survived), their names were not recorded and nothing appears to have been recorded of the lives of the wife and son after Fritz left them, nor of their deaths or burials here. I would like to think Mr Stanley took them back to Africa after his 1892 visit but nothing found on this.
'Cricket' was reportedly 103
He and his pygmy family were described in the newspaper ads, as the "smallest race of people in the world. They are in charge of the celebrated African traveller and lecturer, American, Dr J. A. Fritz".
Mr Cricket stood 4' 4" and he and his family were shown up and down the country, from Invercargill, in Feb 1890. while Mr Fritz gave talks on physiology and phrenology. Mr Cricket, his wife and son would join Fritz on stage for 'entertainment' at a time when the fascinating secrets of Africa were being discovered by European explorers.
Adelaide, 31 July 1890
In the Exchange-room, Town Hall, this evening, Professor J. A. Fritz, phrenologist and antamist, will begin a short lecture season on phrenology. Besides a large collection of excellent models and charts, he has with him a family of Bosjesmans, the smallest human race in the world, natives of Central Africa.
Nelson Evening Mail, 4 Feb 1891
Dr J. A. Fritz, an American citizen, who has been an African traveller and a phreneological lecturer, in March last, secured a family of Bosjesmans, or pigmies, consisting of father, mother and son, who, he states, are of the same race of little people described by Stanley in his "Darkest Africa." (Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841-1904) Dr Fritz stated that although he could not positively assert such to be the case, still he had reason to believed that the head of the family was a hundred years old. The old gentleman plays some weird kind of music on a bow with his fingers, to which the lad dances a kind of double shuffle. The two males also perform what is described as a war dance to a song sung in a monotonous voice.
In Feb 1891, whilst Fritz was staying in Woodville to give lectures, 'Mr Cricket' passed away from 'old age and bronchial affection' and was buried here in Old Gorge cemetery.
A couple of days after the funeral Fritz was on his way to Dannevirke to lecture and "exhibit two of the Pigmies" then on to Feilding & Palmerston North. I'm guessing the wife & son, who were no doubt mourning their loss, no longer had their hearts in the dancing and singing on stage expected of them because Fritz left them stranded in Palmerston while he headed north to Auckland and beyond, eventually returning to America.
NZ Mail, 22 Jan 1892
The Pygmies When 'Dr' Fritz travelled round this quarter of the globe he brought with him a couple of 'pygmies which he said came all the way from the 'Dark Continent' and belonged to the tribe discovered by Stanley. These two little people were stranded at Palmerston North when their patron left for other parts. On Wednesday, when Stanley was at Palmerston, we learn that the Africans were presented to him. The Standard says that after Mr Stanley had talked Zanzibari to them and endeavoured to arrive at some idea of the nationality, he said they were not pygmies, but merely small Negroes from the South of Africa. With a gift of half a sovereign each the couple departed quite happy.
Despite the crowds turning out to see them in this year long tour, no photos appear to have been taken (or have not survived), their names were not recorded and nothing appears to have been recorded of the lives of the wife and son after Fritz left them, nor of their deaths or burials here. I would like to think Mr Stanley took them back to Africa after his 1892 visit but nothing found on this.
He and his pygmy family were described in the newspaper ads, as the "smallest race of people in the world. They are in charge of the celebrated African traveller and lecturer, American, Dr J. A. Fritz".
Mr Cricket stood 4' 4" and he and his family were shown up and down the country, from Invercargill, in Feb 1890. while Mr Fritz gave talks on physiology and phrenology. Mr Cricket, his wife and son would join Fritz on stage for 'entertainment' at a time when the fascinating secrets of Africa were being discovered by European explorers.
Adelaide, 31 July 1890
In the Exchange-room, Town Hall, this evening, Professor J. A. Fritz, phrenologist and antamist, will begin a short lecture season on phrenology. Besides a large collection of excellent models and charts, he has with him a family of Bosjesmans, the smallest human race in the world, natives of Central Africa.
Nelson Evening Mail, 4 Feb 1891
Dr J. A. Fritz, an American citizen, who has been an African traveller and a phreneological lecturer, in March last, secured a family of Bosjesmans, or pigmies, consisting of father, mother and son, who, he states, are of the same race of little people described by Stanley in his "Darkest Africa." (Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841-1904) Dr Fritz stated that although he could not positively assert such to be the case, still he had reason to believed that the head of the family was a hundred years old. The old gentleman plays some weird kind of music on a bow with his fingers, to which the lad dances a kind of double shuffle. The two males also perform what is described as a war dance to a song sung in a monotonous voice.
In Feb 1891, whilst Fritz was staying in Woodville to give lectures, 'Mr Cricket' passed away from 'old age and bronchial affection' and was buried here in Old Gorge cemetery.
A couple of days after the funeral Fritz was on his way to Dannevirke to lecture and "exhibit two of the Pigmies" then on to Feilding & Palmerston North. I'm guessing the wife & son, who were no doubt mourning their loss, no longer had their hearts in the dancing and singing on stage expected of them because Fritz left them stranded in Palmerston while he headed north to Auckland and beyond, eventually returning to America.
NZ Mail, 22 Jan 1892
The Pygmies When 'Dr' Fritz travelled round this quarter of the globe he brought with him a couple of 'pygmies which he said came all the way from the 'Dark Continent' and belonged to the tribe discovered by Stanley. These two little people were stranded at Palmerston North when their patron left for other parts. On Wednesday, when Stanley was at Palmerston, we learn that the Africans were presented to him. The Standard says that after Mr Stanley had talked Zanzibari to them and endeavoured to arrive at some idea of the nationality, he said they were not pygmies, but merely small Negroes from the South of Africa. With a gift of half a sovereign each the couple departed quite happy.
Despite the crowds turning out to see them in this year long tour, no photos appear to have been taken (or have not survived), their names were not recorded and nothing appears to have been recorded of the lives of the wife and son after Fritz left them, nor of their deaths or burials here. I would like to think Mr Stanley took them back to Africa after his 1892 visit but nothing found on this.
Inscription
~ CRICKET ~
African of great age brought to
New Zealand with his wife and son
by phrenologist J. A. Fritz
Exhibited as pygmies
from Invercargill to Woodville.
Died in Woodville said to be 103
and buried in this spot 24 February 1891.
May your spirit be at peace Cricket.
This stone laid as a mark of respect December 2012
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