Portraits of a larger-than-life Leicester icon – officially recorded as the heaviest man in history in 1805 – have been discovered at a Staffordshire auction house.
Daniel Lambert weighed in at more than 50 stone – a fact discovered by chance when he was tricked on to scales. Though a shy man, he was so large he exhibited himself to spectators to earn money.
Two engraved early-19th century prints describing Lambert as being of ‘surprising corpulency’ were discovered by Jim Spencer, Head of Books and Works on Paper and Associate Director of Hansons Auctioneers, during routine cataloguing at Bishton Hall, the firm’s Staffordshire saleroom at Wolseley Bridge.
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.”
“According to historical records, Lambert was a renowned sportsman in his day 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 well-respected jailer who befriended many of the prisoners. He was an expert in field sports and sporting animals, and, by his own account, abstained from drinking alcohol or eating large amounts of food, but it was said that six men could fit inside his waistcoat.
He was sensitive about his size, refusing to be weighed, but was tricked into doing so in 1805. A mighty 50 stone was noted, making Lambert the heaviest person in recorded history at that time. His friends got the better of his reluctance to find out his weight. They invited him to see a cock-fight in Loughborough, Leicestershire, when the carriage in which he was travelling was driven onto scales. The other members of the party leapt out and then calculated his weight after deducting that of the carriage itself.
Lambert became reclusive but people were desperate to see him. One person tried to gain admittance to Lambert’s home by asking his advice about fighting cocks, to which Lambert told his servant, ‘tell the gentleman that I am a shy cock’.
In need of money, Lambert eventually put himself on display. He moved to Piccadilly, attracting London’s middle and upper classes who respected his great knowledge of sporting animals and husbandry, his home becoming a fashionable resort rather than a stage for spectacle or exhibition.
Though self-conscious and disillusioned with London life and the constant attention, Lambert returned to Leicester a wealthy man. He died suddenly on June 21, 1809 in Stamford during a tour of East Anglia. At the time of his death, he weighed 52 stone 11 pounds. The size of his coffin was so large the wall of his apartment had to be demolished and it took 20 men almost half an hour to wheel the casket to the grave. He was buried at St Martin’s Church, Stamford.
The two engravings are being sold as part of an archive of prints in five boxes, guided at £500-£800 in Hansons’ Country House Attic Auction at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire on March 3, 2021.
To find out more, email Jim Spencer, associate director: [email protected]. For information about free valuations, free home visits, house clearance and downsizing email [email protected]
