Anna Haining Bates

Template:Infobox person Anna Haining Bates (née Swan; August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888) was a Canadian woman notable for her great stature of Template:Convert.<ref name="biographi">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was one of the tallest women who ever lived. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.

Early life

Swan (centre) with her parents, who were both of average height<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Anna Swan was born at Mill Brook, New Annan, Nova Scotia.<ref name="biographi"/> At birth she weighed Template:Convert. She was the third<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref>San Francisco Chronicle - 27 Aug 1888 - Page 5</ref>

On her fourth birthday, Swan was Template:Convert tall and weighed Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On her 6th birthday she was measured at Template:Convert tall, an inch or two (2.5–5 cm) shorter than her mother. On her 10th birthday she measured Template:Convert tall and weighed at Template:Convert. On her 11th birthday, she was measured at Template:Convert tall.<ref>San Francisco Chronicle - August 27, 1888 - Page 5.</ref> On her 15th birthday Swan was measured at Template:Convert tall. She reached her full height three years later. Her feet were Template: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.<ref name="nickell">Template:Cite book</ref>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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Swan later toured the western United States, followed by Europe where she appeared before Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.<ref name="nickell" />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.

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Queen Victoria gave Anna a satin gown and diamond ring, and gave Martin an engraved watch as gifts on for their wedding.<ref name="nickell" />Template:Rp

Children

Bates conceived two children with Martin.<ref name="nickell" />Template:Rp The first was a girl born on May 19, 1872; she weighed Template:Convert and died at birth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="biographi" /> 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 Template:Convert and 28 inches tall (c. 72 cm); each of his feet was Template:Convert long. He was posthumously awarded a Guinness World Record as the heaviest new-born baby and the longest.<ref>Template:Cite web. Guinness World Records. "Anna Bates... gave birth to a boy weighing Template:Convert and measuring Template:Convert at her home in Seville, Ohio, on January 19, 1879."</ref>

Later life

The Bateses retired to Seville, Ohio, where they built a mansion with high ceilings and door frames.<ref name="nickell" />Template:Rp The main part of the house had Template:Convert ceilings, while the doors were extra wide and were Template: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.Template:Citation needed

External links

• The Anna Swan Digital Collection
• A giant of a woman: Anna Haining Swan (Template:Webarchive 2009-10-25)
• A photograph of Swan
• An extensive historical page on Bates and her husband
• Template:Find a Grave