The Knick: 5 Characters Based On Real People (& 5 Who Are Completely Fictional)

The Knick is a wildly underappreciated show. Airing on Cinemax probably didn’t help in that regard. The show concerns the employees of the Knickerbocker Hospital at turn of the 20th century as they battle obstacles in their personal lives and revolutionize medicine.

The entire series is directed by Steven Soderbergh and is loosely based on real events. The Knickerbocker Hospital was a real location in Harlem, and it did serve poor, marginalized communities who could not afford medical care. It also had a policy to not treat African American patients, as depicted in the show. However, not everything is based in reality. These are five characters inspired by real people, and five who are completely fictional.

10 Real: John Thackery

At the heart of The Knick is Dr. John Thackery, a brilliant surgeon who is also addicted to cocaine. In season two he develops an addiction to heroin as well and eventually starts speedballing. Thackery is based on William Stewart Halsted, who was perceived as a highly intelligent and dedicated surgeon.

He was a founding professor at Johns Hopkins Hospital, introduced the radical mastectomy for breast cancer, and eventually became known as the Father of Modern Surgery. Like Thackery, he faced a lifelong addiction to both cocaine and morphine.

9 Fictional: Lucy Elkins

Lucy Elkins is one of the leading female characters on the show, serving as a nurse at the Knickerbocker. She begins her story being berated by Thackery for a poor job performance, but the two eventually develop a relationship based entirely on Thackery’s addiction (he essentially uses her as a source for drugs).

There is no historical counterpart for Lucy Elkins, as she essentially just stands in for all the nurses at the Knick.

8 Real: Dr. Henry Cotton

Throughout season one, Eleanor Gallinger goes insane owing to the death of her infant daughter. Feeling helpless with the situation, Everett Gallinger, Eleanor’s husband, has her committed to an institution. While there she is “treated” by a Dr. Henry Cotton, who proceeds to pull all her teeth.

He does so believing that physical impurities and germs in the mouth lead to mental deterioration and mental illness. Henry Cotton was a real person, he worked at New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton, and yes, he often pulled teeth believing it to be a cure for mental illness – this, despite statistical reviews proving otherwise.

7 Fictional: Algernon Edwards

Algernon Edwards can be seen as the secondary protagonist of The Knick. He is a prominent and highly respected surgeon who is nevertheless treated poorly at The Knick for being African American.

At the beginning of the show, Edwards is shunned by his co-workers and forced to work in the basement. In real life, the first black doctor wasn’t hired in New York until 1920 – 20 years after the events of The Knick. If anything, Edwards is based on Daniel Hale Williams, who founded Provident Hospital in Chicago – America’s first non-segregated hospital.

6 Real: Genevieve Everidge

Genevieve Everidge makes her first appearance in season two, after Bertie Chickering transfers to Mt Sinai. Genevieve is portrayed as a respected and popular journalist who went undercover at a mental institution to expose its poor conditions.

This character is most likely modeled after Nellie Bly, a journalist who pioneered the art of investigative journalism. Bly faked insanity and was committed to Blackwell’s Island’s Women’s Lunatic Asylum. She published her articles through New York World and released them in book form under the title Ten Days in a Mad-House, published in 1887.

5 Fictional: Cornelia Robertson

Cornelia Robertson is played by Juliet Rylance. She serves as head of The Knick’s social welfare office and earned the job through her father Captain August Robertson, a rich and prosperous shipping tycoon who serves on The Knick’s board of directors.

Robertson’s story doesn’t actually concern The Knick itself – rather, she helps the health department deal with disease outbreaks, investigates the mysterious death of Jacob Speight, and gets into a tricky (and controversial) relationship with Algernon Edwards – forcing her into getting an abortion.

4 Real: Mary Mallon

Robertson helps New York’s Department of Health and its chief operator, Jacob Speight, in containing disease outbreaks. In the first season, they investigate a particularly nasty outbreak of typhoid, which is seemingly being passed around by an asymptomatic carrier.

Their investigation leads them to an Irish woman named Mary Mallon, who works as a freelance cook for various families around New York. She is entirely real, and she is better known as Typhoid Mary. Mary is believed to have infected more than 50 people with typhoid through her work as a cook.

3 Fictional: Bertie Chickering

Bertie Chickering is a secondary character, usually serving as a companion to Thackery and Nurse Elkins. Bertie’s subplot primarily concerns his relationship – both personal and working – with Dr. Thackery.

In the first season, Bertie is utterly infatuated with Thackery and constantly refuses other jobs, claiming that important work is being done under Thackery at The Knick. He also develops a relationship with Nurse Elkins, but this interferes with his working relationship with Thackery.

2 Real: Herman Barrow

Herman Barrow serves as the operating manager of The Knick. He runs the general day to day operations of the hospital and remains in control of its employees.

However, Barrow is also deeply corrupt, often using the hospital for various nefarious and profitable purposes. He is also deeply in debt to various dangerous figures, including the local mob boss and pimp, Bunkie Collier. Unfortunately, not much is known regarding the real Knick’s operations, but surely it had an operating manager! It’s unclear if they were in debt to mobsters…

1 Fictional: Everett Gallinger

Gallinger serves as one of The Knick‘s primary antagonists, although he is still portrayed with depth and sympathy (primarily concerning the death of his infant daughter and the resulting madness of his wife, Eleanor).

Gallinger is incredibly racist and jealous towards Algernon Edwards, both because he’s black and because he overshadows Gallinger’s accomplishments in the hospital. In the second season, Gallinger gets into eugenics, believing that the black population is inherently inferior to the white. There were plenty of people like him, but no 1:1 historic counterpart.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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