HENRY
FLOYD 1795-1842
Was he the
heaviest man in England
in his time? 4 cwt (32 stone or
448 lbs)
Quote thought to have come from a Romsey local paper in 1842:
Henry Floyd died Aged 47 in Romsey Hampshire
following a short illness.
He was well known for his having in the last few years attained such an
enormous bulk as to become an object of curiosity and astonishment. Although
his weight exceeded 32 stone, he rode about in his own trap with apparent ease.
He attended to his business and was a constant attendant at church (where a pew
had been made purposely for him) until the week of his death.
The corpse was removed from his house on Friday last, a large opening having
been made in the wall below the bedroom window, so as to let out the coffin,
which was an immense size slide down some planks with ropes. It was conveyed to
the grave on a truck drawn by a number of men, followed by family and friends
and it is supposed that there were about 2,000 people at his funeral.
So much time was necessarily employed in removing his body from the house that
the Turnpike Road
was completely blocked up and the 'Rocket' coach and other vehicles were
obliged to go up a back lane.
The deceased was nearly 6ft. in height and well formed. His coffin was 7ft.
long ,which with the shell contained nearly 200ft. of 1" boarding. It was
3ft 2in wide and 2ft 6in deep. The deceased was, there
can be no doubt, the heaviest man in England.
It was a heavy family. His wife weighed 218lbs: Daughter Mrs. Powell 206lbs;
Daughter Mrs. Hawkes 173lbs. Total family weight over
1040lbs.
Henry is the Great, Great, Great Grandfather of Martin Smith.
If you can offer any other information about Henry please
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©
M Smith 2007