Samuel Taylor was born in Little Hallam, near Ilkeston, Derbyshire, on 4th June 1817. He was the son of a farmer, also Samuel Taylor, who himself was an imposing six feet nine. Yet Samuel's mother Ann was a mere five feet.

It became apparent in Samuel's childhood which set of genes had become dominant. By the age of 10 Sam stood at five feet ten inches. At 12 he was six feet four. By the age of 14 he had sprouted to six feet ten, and by adulthood he had attained his maximum height of seven feet four inches....and a half!

Of course this got him noticed in and around Ilkeston. But what it didn't get him was a 'normal job'. Employers felt that his height and ungainliness were qualities they could well do without, and he was unable to find employment through the normal channels.

The course of Samuel Taylor's life changed on a visit to Castle Donnington in 1832. His visit coincided with that of a travelling fair, the first he had ever seen. He was naturally attracted to the sideshow in which 'The Giant' was on display. But on paying his penny admission and entering the booth Sam was sorely disappointed.

The 'Giant' was a somewhat weedy specimen of about 30 years of age measuring in at a mere six feet three. Little wonder that when Sam Taylor strode in - aged only 16 and already seven feet plus - the gathered crowd soon began to gawp at him instead of the man they had paid to marvel at.

The showman in charge of the fair, a Mr. Reader, quickly realised his opportunity. After a little negotiation Sam Taylor was engaged as the new star attraction on handsome terms.

For some months he travelled around the country with the fair making a great impression on everybody who saw him. And thereby arose a problem. The proprietor of the fair had a daughter - 'Mademoiselle Reader glass blower extraordinaire' - who took rather a fancy to 'big Sam'.

This didn't please Mr. Reader at all - perhaps he feared a pregnant glassblower might be in the offing - and he gave Sam Taylor immediate notice. But Sam had reciprocated the girl's feelings and was in no mood for compromise. On the night after he had been sacked, when the fair was in Arbroath, the couple eloped to Montrose.

They were pursued there by the girl's irate father, who seized their luggage and put the local constabulary on the case. The father asked that an arrest be made, but when it was established that his daughter was fully 'consenting' the police declined to take action.

The 'Giant' and his adoring 'Glassblower' were duly wed, and only then did the girl's father have a change of heart. Once again donning his showman's hat - mindful of the revenue he was forsaking - he re-engaged Sam Taylor and made a handsome wedding gift of £5 to the newlywed couple.

For a further 12 months they continued to tour with the fair, and thereafter the couple set up in the show business on their own account. But what Sam Taylor had in inches he lacked in business acumen. The couple became ever less prosperous, and Sam decided to take an excavating job with a railway company.

But at that too he struggled to earn a living. Soon he took his fair back on the road, more successfully this time. On the strength of increased takings the couple bought a public house in Manchester. But again Sam Taylor's business skills were found wanting - too often he dipped into the till to share a glass with his customers, and before long the couple found themselves £100 in debt.

So out came the caravan once more - the 'Giant' and the 'Glassblower' were back on the road. Sam Taylor often visited Derbyshire with his travelling show, and had a particular fondness for the age-old event known as Ilkeston Statutes Fair. One of Sam's sons once said that whenever his father left Ilkeston he 'looked back until the very last moment until the town for which he had such a never-ending affection finally disappeared from view'.

It is appropriate then, that the 'Ilkeston Giant' is buried in the town.

In 1875, when packing up to leave a place in Oldham, he slipped and badly fractured his thigh. A month later he was admitted to Manchester Infirmary after complications had set in. Although he made rapid progress, he suffered an unexpected relapse, and died suddenly on 3 June 1875, aged 59, leaving his wife and two sons.

His huge coffin was taken by train to Ilkeston, and met at the Midland Station there by a large crowd and the Ilkeston Brass Band. The bells of St. Mary's Church rang a muffled peal, and from the Independent Chapel the body was taken to Stanton Road Cemetery.

Samuel Taylor was buried there not far from where he was born, and his memorial can be seen there to this day. On it is engraved a simple legend:

'In loving memory of Samuel Taylor, the Ilkeston Giant. Height 7' 4 1/2". Died June 3 1875 aged 59.'

The memorial was restored to its former glory and rededicated in 2008 by the Friends of Stanton Road Cemetery.

More images of Samuel Taylor:

Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

Quick Tallest Man Links

- Discussion Forums
- Index of Giants
- Tallest Women
- Unknown Giants
- Books on Giants
- General Articles
- Giants in the Media
- Giants in Movies
- Giant Shoes
- Calculating Heights
- Acromegaly and Gigantism
- Statistics
- Glossary of Terms
- Height Converter

New on The Tallest Man

02-08-2015: Image(s) of Abdramane Dembele added.

28-07-2015: Image(s) of Arshavir Grigoryan added.

26-07-2015: Image(s) of Dalibor Micic added.

30-03-2015: Image(s) of Alam Channa added.

08-03-2015: Image(s) of Hussain Bisad added.

15-02-2015: Image(s) of Jack Earle added.

13-02-2015: Page for Robert Bobroczky added.

12-02-2015: Page for Taco Fall added.

03-02-2015: Image(s) for Bernard Coyne and Elias Gore added.

02-02-2015: Image(s) for Mahmoud Lotfi, Don Koehler, Zhang Jun-Cai and Ralph Madsen added.

01-02-2015: Postcard of Jakob Murdel added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Thomas Dalroy and John McLean added.

31-01-2015: Page for Rafael França do Nascimento and Nikolai Pankratov added. Image(s) of Don Koehler added.

30-01-2015: Page for Abdramane Dembele added.

29-01-2015: Image(s) of Don Koehler added.

22-07-2014: Image(s) of Max Palmer, John Aasen, Don Koehler, Christopher Greener, Clifford Thompson, Jakob Nacken and Jack Earle added.

21-07-2014: Image(s) of Lock Martin added.

06-03-2013: Image(s) of Ted Evans added. Video(s) about Sultan Kösen added.

05-03-2013: Image(s) of Ri Myong-hun, Väinö Myllyrinne and Zhang Jun-Cai added.

31-10-2012: Image(s) of Viktor Prenner added.

28-10-2012: Image(s) of George Page and Meadows Page added.

27-10-2012: Image(s) of Don Koehler, Clifford Thompson, Ted Evans, Gilbert Reichert, Ralph Madsen and Max Palmer added.

23-10-2012: Image(s) of Christopher Greener and Frederick Decker added.

16-10-2012: Image(s) of Clive Darril added. Video(s) about Albert Johan Kramer added.

28-09-2012: Image(s) of Don Koehler and Sunil Kumar Panda added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Patrick Cotter O'Brien added.

16-09-2012: Image(s) of Richard Kiel and Hee Sen Balling added. Video(s) about Andre the Giant added.

11-09-2012: Image(s) of Albert Johan Kramer, Naseer Soomro and Sultan Kösen added.

06-09-2012: Image(s) of Robert Wadlow - early years, Ijaz Ahmed and General Articles added.

05-09-2012: Image(s) of Rolf Mayr, Julius Koch, Robert Wadlow - later years and Yao Ming added. Video(s) about Mu Tie-Zhu added.

04-09-2012: Image(s) of Eugene Arceau and Henry Mullens added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jaime Clemente added.

22-08-2012: Image(s) of Cashmere Giant and Tran Thanh Pho added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Agustin Luengo Capilla added.

20-08-2012: Page for Dalibor Micic added. Image(s) of Anton de Franckenpoinct added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jim Tarver and Eddie Carmel added. Video(s) about Jack Earle added.

19-08-2012: Image(s) of Gilbert Reichert added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jakob Murdel added. Video(s) about Richard Kiel and Andre the Giant added.

15-08-2012: Image(s) of Yao Ming added. Video(s) about Gheorghe Muresan added.

08-08-2012: Image(s) of Zhaoxu Zhang and John F. Carroll added.

05-08-2012: Image(s) of Christopher Greener added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Wadlow added.

03-08-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen added.

02-08-2012: Image(s) of Fernand Bachelard, Ralph Madsen and Ri Myong-hun added.

01-08-2012: Image(s) of John Paul Ofwono, Robert Wadlow - later years, Mu Tie-Zhu and Hussain Bisad added. Video(s) about Dave Rasmussen added.

27-07-2012: Image(s) of Wade Halbrook added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Fernand Bachelard, Ole Andreas Hansen and Lewis Wilkins added. Biography of Ole Andreas Hansen added.

23-07-2012: Image(s) of Ole Andreas Hansen and Sun Ming Ming added.

21-07-2012: Image(s) of Sun Ming Ming and Richard Kiel added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Ted Evans, Albert Johan Kramer, William Witte and Donald McGregor added.

20-07-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Rob Bruintjes, Clive Darril, Kaatje van Dyk, Albert Johan Kramer and Robert Wadlow added. Video(s) about Chang Chin-kuo, Brahim Takioullah and Sultan Kösen added.

18-07-2012: Image(s) of Walter Tatake Quisbert and Brahim Takioullah added. Video(s) about Brahim Takioullah added.

15-07-2012: Image(s) of Chang Woo-Gow added. Video(s) about Sultan Kösen, Paul Sturgess and Rolf Mayr added.

14-07-2012: Image(s) of Alam Channa, Azad Khan Masood, Hussain Bisad and Naseer Soomro added.

13-07-2012: Page for Siddiqa Parvin added. Image(s) of Yao Ming and Arvydas Sabonis added. Video(s) about Matt McGrory and John Aasen added.

11-07-2012: Image(s) of Hong Man Choi, Mounir Fourar, Sami Eerola, Jaber Rouzbahani, Matt McGrory, Sultan Kösen and Neil Fingleton added. Video(s) about Hong Man Choi added.

04-07-2012: Image(s) of Robert Wadlow, Zhao Liang and Gottlieb Fischer added.

03-07-2012: Image(s) of Rigardus Rijnhout added.

30-06-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen added.

29-06-2012: Page for Virginie Beauchamp added. Image(s) of Paul Sturgess added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Charles Lampman and Bridget McDonald added.

27-06-2012: Image(s) of Henry Mullens added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Captain Smith Cook and Henri Cot added.

26-06-2012: Image(s) of Ramazan Karageyik and Conrad Furrows added. Video(s) about Mounir Fourar added.

23-06-2012: Image(s) of Eddie Carmel added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jack Earle added.

21-06-2012: Page for Ralph Drollinger added.

18-06-2012: Image(s) of Chang Woo-Gow and Sultan Kösen in Germany added.

16-06-2012: Image(s) of Zhang Jun-Cai, Abdul Jabber and Asdrúbal Herrera Mora added. Video(s) about Sultan Kösen and Robert Wadlow added.

14-06-2012: Image(s) of Ghulam Shabbir added. Video(s) about Sandy Allen and Johann Petursson added.

13-06-2012: Image(s) of Joélisson Fernandes da Silva and Paul Sturgess added.

12-06-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen, Marianne Wehde, Erwin Johnson, Baptiste Hugo and Malee Duangdee added. Video(s) about Sultan Kösen and Malee Duangdee added.

09-06-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen and Maria Scheller added.

08-06-2012: Page for Roger Morrissey added. Video(s) about Paul Sturgess, Igor Vovkovinskiy and Alexander Sizonenko added.

07-06-2012: Video(s) about Denis Albino and Sultan Kösen added.

06-06-2012: Image(s) of Suparwono, Ghulam Shabbir, Ijaz Ahmed and Sun Ming Ming added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Kaatje van Dyk added. Video(s) about Margarito Machahuay Varela and Richard Kiel added.

02-06-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Ted Evans, Margo Dydek, Angelina Melius, General Articles and Uljana Semjonova added.

01-06-2012: I have started adding 'random facts' to the website. An example can be seen on the frontpage. So far there are 9 random facts, but this number will slowly increase.

30-05-2012: Image(s) of Igor Vovkovinskiy, Brahim Takioullah, Bernardo Gilli, Maximillian Miller and Alexander Sizonenko added. Video(s) about Igor Vovkovinskiy added.

29-05-2012: Image(s) of Maria Fassnauer added.

28-05-2012: Page for Johannes Sander added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jakob Nacken and Kaatje van Dyk added.

26-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Frank Wilcox, Balahu, Väinö Myllyrinne, Uljana Semjonova and Jim Tarver added.

25-05-2012: Image(s) of Ralph Madsen, Maria Scheller and Sandy Allen added.

24-05-2012: Page for Percival Horton added. Image(s) of Erhard Weller, Johann Petursson, Ijaz Ahmed, Hassan Ali and Leonid Stadnyk added. Video(s) about Erhard Weller added.

21-05-2012: Page for Embret Pedersen, MacQuail, Mr. Thomson and Asadulla Khan added.

19-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Erhard Weller, Patrick Cotter O'Brien, Christopher Greener, Lewis Wilkins, Albert Johan Kramer, Alexander Sizonenko and Charles Byrne added.

18-05-2012: Image(s) of Igor Vovkovinskiy, Radhouane Charbib and Aurangzeb Khan added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Fernand Bachelard and Erhard Weller added. Video(s) about Paul Sturgess added.

17-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Johann Petursson added.

16-05-2012: Image(s) of Elfriede Fischer and Gottlieb Fischer added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Gabriel Monjane and Yoshimitsu Matsuzaka added.

15-05-2012: Image(s) of Buck Nolan added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Jim Lanier, Mike Lanier, Jacobus Williams and Alam Channa added.

13-05-2012: Image(s) of Sandy Allen, Leon Henoch and Dan Gerber added.

12-05-2012: Image(s) of Yao Ming added. Video(s) about Rob Bruintjes and Sultan Kösen added.

10-05-2012: Video(s) about Mounir Fourar added.

09-05-2012: Image(s) of Leon Henoch and Konnie Klein added. Video(s) about Leonid Stadnyk added.

08-05-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen added.

07-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Marianne Wehde, Amelia Weston, Priscilla Weston, Aama Bataillard and Elizabeth Lyska added.

05-05-2012: Page for Miss Jane Cobden added. Image(s) of 'Big Gust' Anderson added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Aama Bataillard, Elizabeth Lyska and Clive Darril added.

04-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about The Lapland Giantess added.

03-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Charles Freeman added. Video(s) about Haq Nawaz added.

02-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Wadlow, General Articles, Arthur James Caley and John Middleton added.

01-05-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Frederick Kempster, Henry Alexander Cooper, Franz Winkelmeier, Jarda Marek and Jack Earle added.

29-04-2012: Image(s) of Clifford Thompson added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Clifford Thompson added. Video(s) about Charles Byrne added.

25-04-2012: Page for Jess Noronha and Peter Feketi added. Image(s) of Kurt Zehe and J.W. Patterson added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Ed Wolff, Dora Helms, Milas Shoun and Werner Syre added. Book reference of Charles Freeman added.

24-04-2012: Video(s) of Igor Vovkovinskiy added.

23-04-2012: Image(s) of Victoria Hall, Ellen Bayer, Dave Rasmussen and Igor Vovkovinskiy added.

20-04-2012: Image(s) of Maria Fassnauer and Edouard Beaupré added.

18-04-2012: Image(s) of Leah May, Zhao Liang, Isroil Hushbokov and Zhang Jun-Cai added. Video(s) of Zhang Mengyong and Manute Bol added.

17-04-2012: Image(s) of Manuel Camacho, Feodor Machnow, George Auger and Agustin Luengo Capilla added.

14-04-2012: Acromegalic gigantism, physicians and body snatching. Past or present? by Professor Wouter W. de Herder added.

13-04-2012: Image(s) of Edouard Beaupré, Ewart Potgieter and Yao Ming added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Max Palmer and Henry Johnson added.

12-04-2012: Image(s) of Zhang Jun-Cai added. Video(s) of Sultan Kösen added.

11-04-2012: Image(s) of Lock Martin and Don Koehler added. Video(s) of Brahim Takioullah added.

10-04-2012: Image(s) of Max Palmer, Anna Haining Swan, Martin van Buren Bates and Angus MacAskill added.

07-04-2012: Image(s) of Robert Wadlow - later years and Louis Moilanen added.

05-04-2012: Image(s) of Gheorghe Muresan, Jack Earle and Captain Ureck added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Wadlow added.

04-04-2012: Page for Jose Punlos added. Newspaper clipping(s) about William Robinson added.

03-04-2012: Image(s) of Leah May, Frederick Kempster and Johann Petursson added. Video(s) of Rob Bruintjes added.

02-04-2012: Page for Stefan Grewen added. Image(s) of Dikembe Mutombo and Manute Bol added.

31-03-2012: Image(s) of Viktor Zabolotny and Antonio Fuss added.

30-03-2012: Image(s) of Brahim Takioullah added. Video(s) of Brahim Takioullah added.

28-03-2012: Image(s) of Viktor Zabolotny, Manute Bol, George Bell, Rayford Johnson and Delores Pullard added.

27-03-2012: Image(s) of Robert Wadlow - later years, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Mounir Fourar, Mark Eaton and Frederick Kempster added. Video(s) of Kaliova Seleiwau and Lock Martin added.

26-03-2012: Image(s) of Chuck Nevitt, Lock Martin, Naseer Soomro, Haq Nawaz, Zainab Bibi, Ramazan Karageyik and Jean-Joseph Brice added.

17-03-2012: Image(s) of Brahim Takioullah and Sultan Kösen added.

16-03-2012: Page for Sam Gombya added. Image(s) of Jaber Rouzbahani, Brahim Takioullah and Leonid Stadnyk added.

15-03-2012: Image(s) of Henry Mullens added. Video(s) of Mark Eaton added.

14-03-2012: Image(s) of Sultan Kösen, Brahim Takioullah and Zhang Mengyong added. Video(s) of Zhang Mengyong added.

13-03-2012: Image(s) of Robert Wadlow - later years added.

12-03-2012: Page for Magdalena Cicuta added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Ella Ewing added.

11-03-2012: Image(s) of Don Koehler added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Elias Gore, Aama Bataillard, Jack Earle and James Clancy added.

09-03-2012: Image(s) of Malee Duangdee, Ijaz Ahmed and Yao Defen added.

08-03-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Albert Johan Kramer, Rigardus Rijnhout, Eleanor Wagner, Alam Channa, Musutaman, Leonid Stadnyk, Alexander Sizonenko, Bao Xi Shun and Ijaz Ahmed added.

07-03-2012: Image(s) of Rob Bruintjes added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Rik Smits, Jakob Nacken, Liu Yu-Qing and Serge Zwikker added.

06-03-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Zwaan, Albert Johan Kramer, Rigardus Rijnhout, Christopher Greener, Ted Evans, Suleiman Ali Nashnush, Gabriel Estêvão Monjane, Erhard Weller, Rosa Wedsted, General Articles, Kaatje van Dyk, Dora Helms, Heinz Kleinau and Rob Bruintjes added.

05-03-2012: Image(s) of Gertrude Hall added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Zwaan, Jack Earle and Albert Johan Kramer added. Information about Amalie Schulte added.

04-03-2012: Page for Annie Irwin added.

03-03-2012: Image(s) of Carl Sandell, Damiao Rodrigues and Montana Hank added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Bernardo Gilli and Patrick Cotter O'Brien added.

02-03-2012: Image(s) of Morteza Mehrzad added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Gilbert Reichert added.

01-03-2012: Video(s) of Bao Xi Shun and Zhang Jun-Cai added.

28-02-2012: Image(s) of Morteza Mehrzad and John Aasen added.

27-02-2012: Morteza Mehrzad has been upgraded to 8 feet and 1 inch tall as discussed in this thread on our discussion forum.

25-02-2012: Image(s) of Zhao Liang, Wang Tong Xin and Huang Chang-Chiu added.

24-02-2012: Image(s) of Montana Hank, Henry Johnson, Captain John Creech, Jan Kruminsh, Ijaz Ahmed and Bob Wegner added. Video(s) of Brahim Takioullah and Babu added.

23-02-2012: R.I.P. Suparwono. Page for Martin Ruboga added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Eddie Carmel added.

22-02-2012: Page for Yossi Ben Naim added. Image(s) of Bob Wegner and Homer Parks
added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Ted Evans and John Turner added. Video(s) of Paul Sturgess added. Information about Robert Hales added.

21-02-2012: Image(s) of Bob Wegner, Bao Xi Shun, Gheorghe Muresan, Paul Sturgess, Yasutaka Okayama, Aurangzeb Khan, Zhang Jun-Cai, Hussain Bisad and Mamadou Ndiaye added. Video(s) of Ijaz Ahmed, Sultan Kösen, Yasutaka Okayama and Gheorghe Muresan added.

20-02-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Frederick William Randall Chadwick, Martin Salmerón, Igor Vovkovinskiy and James Patrick Tolley added.

19-02-2012: Page for Peerken van Gorp added.

18-02-2012: Newspaper clipping(s) about Charles Freeman and Jean Bihin added.

17-02-2012: Image(s) of Feodor Machnow added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Louis Frenz and Angelina Melius added.

16-02-2012: Page for Benjamin Harrison added. Video(s) of Neil Fingleton added.

15-02-2012: Image(s) of Ijaz Ahmed and Felipe Birriel Fernández added.

[....some older news snipped....]

17-06-2009: Installed discussion forum. You can join it here...

12-06-2009: Started building the website.