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Daniel Lambert

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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DANIEL LAMBERT (1770-1809), an Englishman famous for his great size, was born near Leicester on the 13th of March 1770, the son of the keeper of the jail, to which post he succeeded in 1791. About this time his size and weight increased enormously, and though he had led an active and athletic life he weighed in 1793 thirty-two stone (448 lb). In 1806 he resolved to profit by his notoriety, and resigning his office went up to London and exhibited himself. He died on the 21st of July 1809, and at the time measured 5 ft. Ii in. in height and weighed 521 stone (739 lb). His waistcoat, now in the Kings Lynn Museum, measures 102 in. round the waist. His coffin contained 11 2 ft. of elm and was built on wheels. His name has been used as a synonym for immensity. George Meredith describes London as the "Daniel Lambert of cities," and Herbert Spencer uses the phrase "a Daniel Lambert of learning." His enormous proportions were depicted on a number of tavern signs, but the best portrait of him, a large mezzotint, is preserved at the British Museum in Lyson's Collectanea.