Anna Haining Bates, born Anna Haining Swan (August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888), was a Canadian from Mill Brook, New Annan, (near present-day Tatamagouche), Colchester County, Nova Scotia, famed for her great height, believed to be 2.27 m (7' 5½") at the peak of her stature. However, family records confirm that she did, in fact, reach 8 feet in height. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.
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At birth Anna weighed approximately 18 pounds. Anna was the third of 13 children, all also of around average height. From birth she grew very quickly. On her 4th birthday she was 4 feet 6 inches (137 cm) tall. On her 6th birthday she was measured again, and she stood 5 foot 2 inches (157 cm) tall, an inch or two (2.5–5 cm) shorter than her mother. On her 11th birthday she measured at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds.[1] By her 15th birthday Anna Swan was measured at just over seven feet (213 cm) tall. She would reach her full height two years later. Anna's feet measured 13 and a half inches long.[2] Anna's body was in proportion throughout her childhood.[1]
Anna excelled at literature and music and was considered to be very intelligent. She also excelled at her studies of acting, piano and voice. She played Lady Macbeth in one play.
She had to be rescued from a fire at Barnum's museum in July 1865. The stairs were in flames but she was too large to escape through a window. In her fear she bowled over the men sent to help her. Employees of the museum found a derrick nearby, smashed the wall around a window on the third floor, and lowered Anna by block and tackle with 18 men holding the end of the rope. At the time Anna weighed 394 pounds or 28 stone 2 pounds (179 kg). Usually however, her weight was around 25 stones or 350 pounds (159 kg). Her highest recorded weight was 413 pounds, or 29 stone 7 pounds.
As part of her shows, Anna had a tape measure put around her waist and then had a lady from the audience put it around her waist. The tape would go around the average woman's waist three times. In 1869, whilst on a tour of Britain, one newspaper reporter described Anna as "Towers above all men when stood up, and most women when sat down. She has an oval face, and is softly spoken, with a gentle voice". She was also presented at court.[3]
When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates — another enormously tall person — was travelling, Anna was spotted by the promoter and hired on the spot. The giant couple became a touring sensation and eventually fell in love and, on 17 June 1871 in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, they married. Rev. Rupert Cochrane, a friend of Anna's family who happened to be preaching in London at the time, agreed to conduct the ceremony. Despite his 6-foot-3-inch (1.91 m) stature, the Reverend looked small when standing next to the giant bride and groom.
They had two children, the first being a girl who was stillborn on 19 May 1872. The girl was the same size as her mother had been at her own birth. The Bates family moved to Seville, Ohio, in June 1874 on their return from the United Kingdom. They purchased 120 acres (0.49 km2) of land and had furniture made to their specifications. Martin supervised the construction of the house. The main part of the house had 14-foot (4.3 m) high ceilings, while the doors were extra wide and were 8 and a 1/2 feet tall. The back part of the house was built an average size for servants and guests.
Whilst touring in the summer of 1878, Anna found that she was pregnant for the second time. Anna went into labour on January 15, 1879. Anna continued in the first stages of labour for 36 hours, at which time hard labour began. Dr. Beach, their physician, realized that the birth was not going in a normal direction and tried using forceps, but the baby's head was too large. He called another doctor who also tried using forceps. They put a strong bandage around the baby's neck to assist with the delivery. The baby was born on 19 January, but he survived only 11 hours. He was the largest newborn ever recorded, at 10.8 kg, or 23.12 pounds and nearly 30 inches (71 centimeters) tall and each of his feet were six inches (152 mm) long.[4]
To help take their minds off their baby's death, the Bateses rejoined touring with W.W. Cole in the summer of 1879, and again in the spring of 1880, but that was to be their final tour, after which they retired.
The remaining years of Anna's life were spent quietly on the farm that she and her husband owned, mostly away from the limelight. She had joined the local Baptist Church in 1877, and attended services with her husband on a Sunday. The pew in which they sat had to be enlarged and modified so they could sit comfortably. Anna sometimes taught Sunday School there.
Anna Bates died unexpectedly in her sleep, at her home on August 5, 1888 just one day before her 42nd birthday. She succumbed to heart failure after struggling with a thyroid goitre for some time previously.
After his wife's death, Captain Bates wired Cleveland, Ohio, for a coffin. A standard size coffin was sent as they believed that the wire was a mistake. Furious about this, he contacted them again to say that his first wire was correct. The funeral had to be delayed as it took the coffin three further days to arrive.[5]
Anna, Martin and their children are buried in Mound Hill Cemetery in Seville, Ohio. Nearby is Anna's sister Maggie, who died from tuberculosis in the spring of 1875, aged 22.
