Anna Haining Bates

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy datesTemplate:Use Canadian English

Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Anna Haining Bates (née Swan; August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888) was a Canadian woman notable for her great stature of Script error: No such module "convert"..[1][2] She was one of the tallest women who ever lived. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.

Early life

File:Anna Swan with her parents.jpg
Swan (centre) with her parents, who were both of average height[3]

Anna Swan was born at Mill Brook, New Annan, Nova Scotia.[1] At birth she weighed Script error: No such module "convert".. She was the third[4] of 13 children, all of the others being around average height. From birth she grew very rapidly. Anna's mother recalled that her daughter's growth rate was "phenomenal."[5]

On her fourth birthday, Swan was Script error: No such module "convert". tall and weighed Script error: No such module "convert"..[6] On her 6th birthday she was measured at Script error: No such module "convert". tall, an inch or two (2.5–5 cm) shorter than her mother. On her 10th birthday she measured Script error: No such module "convert". tall and weighed at Script error: No such module "convert".. On her 11th birthday, she was measured at Script error: No such module "convert". tall.[7] On her 15th birthday Swan was measured at Script error: No such module "convert". tall. She reached her full height three years later. Her feet were Script error: No such module "convert". long.

Swan excelled at literature and music and was considered to be very intelligent. She also excelled at her studies of acting, piano and voice. On one occasion she played Lady Macbeth.

Circus career

When she was 17, Swan started working with American showman P. T. Barnum.[8]Template:Rp She lived in Barnum's American Museum in New York City, and on July 13, 1865, she nearly burned to death when the museum was destroyed by fire. At the time she weighed 384 lb. (159 kg). Her highest recorded weight was 418 lb or just under 30 stone.[9]

Swan later toured the western United States, followed by Europe where she appeared before Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.[8]Template:Rp When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates—another enormously tall person known as the "Kentucky Giant"—was travelling, Swan was spotted by the promoter and hired on the spot.

File:The marriage of Captain Martin van Buren to Anna Swan. Wood Wellcome V0007376.jpg
The marriage of Martin Bates to Anna Swan, 1871

The giant couple became a touring sensation and eventually fell in love; they married on June 17, 1871, in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.[10] Queen Victoria gave Anna a satin gown and diamond ring, and gave Martin an engraved watch as gifts for their wedding.[8]Template:Rp

Children

Bates conceived two children with Martin.[8]Template:Rp The first was a girl born on May 19, 1872; she weighed Script error: No such module "convert". and died at birth.[11] While touring in the summer of 1878, Anna was pregnant for the second time. The boy was born on January 18, 1879, and survived only 11 hours.[1] Named just "Babe" he was said by his father to have had the appearance of a perfect 6-month-old. He was the largest newborn ever recorded, at Script error: No such module "convert". and 28 inches tall (c. 72 cm); each of his feet was Script error: No such module "convert". long. He was posthumously awarded a Guinness World Record as the heaviest new-born baby and the longest.[12]

Later life

The Bateses retired to Seville, Ohio, where they built a mansion with high ceilings and door frames.[8]Template:Rp The main part of the house had Script error: No such module "convert". ceilings, while the doors were extra wide and were Script error: No such module "convert". tall. The back part of the house was built an average size for servants and guests.

They resumed touring with the W. W. Cole Circus in the summer of 1879, and again in the spring of 1880, which was her final ever tour. After that, Bates spent her remaining years quietly on the farm that she and her husband owned. She had joined the local Baptist Church in 1877 and attended services with her husband until shortly before her death.

Death

Anna Bates died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure in her sleep at her home on August 5, 1888, one day before her 42nd birthday.

The cause of her height was never discovered in her lifetime.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

References

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  1. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle - 27 Aug 1888 - Page 5
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle - August 27, 1888 - Page 5.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".. Guinness World Records. "Anna Bates... gave birth to a boy weighing Script error: No such module "convert". and measuring Script error: No such module "convert". at her home in Seville, Ohio, on January 19, 1879."

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External links

Template:Barnum Template:Authority control

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