James Dixon ( 3rd GG – 1799 – 1883 )
Daniel Lambert (13 March 1770 – 21 June 1809) was an English gaol keeper[n 1] and animal breeder from Leicester, famous for his unusually large size. After serving four years as an apprentice at an engraving and die casting works in Birmingham, he returned to Leicester around 1788 and succeeded his father as keeper of Leicester’s gaol. He was a keen sportsman and extremely strong; on one occasion he fought a bear in the streets of Leicester. He was an expert in sporting animals, widely respected for his expertise with dogs, horses and fighting cocks.
At the time of Lambert’s return to Leicester, his weight began to increase steadily, even though he was athletically active and, by his own account, abstained from drinking alcohol and did not eat unusual amounts of food. In 1805, Lambert’s gaol closed. By this time, he weighed 50 stone (700 lb; 320 kg), and had become the heaviest authenticated person up to that point in recorded history. Unemployable and sensitive about his bulk, Lambert became a recluse.
In 1806, poverty forced Lambert to put himself on exhibition to raise money. In April 1806, he took up residence in London, charging spectators to enter his apartments to meet him. Visitors were impressed by his intelligence and personality, and visiting him became highly fashionable. After some months on public display, Lambert grew tired of exhibiting himself, and in September 1806, he returned, wealthy, to Leicester, where he bred sporting dogs and regularly attended sporting events. Between 1806 and 1809, he made a further series of short fundraising tours.
In June 1809, he died suddenly in Stamford, Lincolnshire. At the time of his death, he weighed 52 stone 11 pounds (739 lb; 335 kg), and his coffin required 112 square feet (10.4 square metres) of wood. Despite the coffin being built with wheels to allow easy transport, and a sloping approach being dug to the grave, it took 20 men almost half an hour to drag his casket into the trench, in a newly opened burial ground to the rear of St Martin’s Church. While others have since overtaken Daniel Lambert’s record as the heaviest person in history, he remains a popular character in Leicester, and in 2009 was described by the Leicester Mercury as “one of the city’s most cherished icons”.
Across England, many public houses and inns were renamed after Daniel Lambert, particularly in Leicester and Stamford. The Daniel Lambert public house at 12 Ludgate Hill,[69] near the entrance to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, was well known, and had a large portrait of Daniel Lambert and Lambert’s walking stick on display in the lobby.[ James Dixon, owner of the Ram Jam Inn in Stamford, bought the suit of clothes Lambert had been wearing when he died and put it on display, renaming the inn the Daniel Lambert.
In 1841 census James Dixon ( 3rd GG – 1799 – 1883 ) is showing as residing at the Ram Jam Inn, Stamford
In 1851 census James Dixon ( 3rd GG – 1799 – 1883 ) is showing as residing at the Daniel Lambert Inn, Stamford after purchasing the clothing Daniel Lambert was alleged to have died in
P. T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb
Addendum
P. T. Barnum and the 40-inch (100 cm) tall General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton) visited Stamford in 1846 and donated one of Thumb’s costumes to Dixon to be displayed alongside Lambert’s.[19] General Tom Thumb visited Stamford again in 1859 and was tied up inside one of Lambert’s stockings.[19]
