Jane Bunford
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Jane "Jinny" Bunford, born on 26 July 1895 to John and Jane Bunford of Bartley Green, Birmingham UK, was, and remains, an enigma. At her death she was one of the tallest, if not the tallest, women in medical history.
Her father was a metal caster and she was one of seven children. She attended St. Michael's School in Bartley Green. Her abnormal growth began after a head injury she suffered at the age of 11. On her 13th birthday she was measured as being 6 feet 6 inches tall or 198 centimeters. She came out of school early as she couldn't stand the comments and taunts of her classmates.
She eventually grew to a height of 2.31 meters (7 feet 7 inches), becoming the tallest woman in the world at the time. However she suffered from kyphoscoliosis and had she been able to stand erect, would have measured 7 feet 11 inches. Her plaited hair was reported to measure 8 feet in length.
Jane died from hyperpituitarism and gigantism on 1 April 1922 aged 26 years, and was supposedly buried in St. Michael's Churchyard, Bartley Green. Fifty years later a controversy broke out as to whether she had, in fact, been buried there at all. It was reported that a skeleton of a giantess was discovered at Birmingham University's Medical School. Although there was no label attached, it was presumed to be that of Jane Bunford. One explanation is that Jane's father presented her body to the museum, and that they, in turn, removed her skeleton, and returned her remains for burial.
A large plaque in commemoration of "Jinny" has been placed on the wall outside the Bartley Green Local Library.
