New pictures of 50-stone man go under the hammer
NEWLY-DISCOVERED pictures of famous fat man Daniel Lambert have gone under the hammer at an auction.
The 50st resident was declared the heaviest man in history after he was tricked onto a set of scales in 1805.
His huge chair is one of the main attractions at Newarke Houses Museum, in his home city of Leicester.
While he was shy about his weight and became a recluse for a while, Daniel moved to London and made money exhibiting himself in the years before his death while on tour in Stamford at the age of 39 in June 1809.
When he died, he weighted 52st 11lbs.
Now two engraved, early-19th century prints have been found by Jim Spencer, associate director of Hansons Auctioneers.
He discovered them during a routine cataloguing at Bishton Hall, the firm’s Staffordshire saleroom at Wolseley Bridge.
And at the start of the month they went under the hammer at Bishton Hall and fetched £300.
Mr Spencer said: “This is what I love about my job - bringing the past to life and celebrating history.
“I was working my way through five large boxes full of pieces of paper, mostly 19th century bookplates, portraits and topographical views, but all the while remembering that everything tells a story - stop and study anything, and it starts to speak.
“I’d heard about Lambert when I visited St Martin’s Church in Stamford some years ago, and the prints just caught my attention. “They don’t have much monetary value on their own but they depict a famous character from the past - a complicated sort of life but a fascinating one.”
Mr Spencer said that according to historical records, Lambert was a renowned sportsman who taught swimming and could stay afloat with two grown men on his back.
He famously fought a bear in the streets of Leicester, and was able to stand on one leg while kicking his other leg seven feet into the air. Lambert, who was born in Blue Boar Lane, Leicester, on March 13, 1770, was a jailer who befriended many of the prisoners.
Mr Spencer said Daniel seems to have been sensitive about his size, refusing to be weighed, but was tricked when his friends invited him to see a cock-fight in Loughborough.
The carriage he was travelling in was driven onto scales. The other members of the party jumped out and then calculated his weight by deducting the weight of the carriage.
In London, he became annoyed by the constant attention and returned to Leicester a wealthy man.
He died suddenly on June 21, 1809 while staying in Stamford during a tour of East Anglia.
He was put into a coffin but it was so large the wall of the apartment he was staying in had to be demolished to get the coffin out again.
It took 20 men almost half an hour to wheel the casket to the grave when he was buried at St Martin’s Church, Stamford.
I’d heard about Lambert when I visited St Martin’s Church in Stamford some years ago
Jim Spencer