Thomas Longley

A cabinet card portrait of Thomas Longley, who claimed to be ‘The Heaviest British Subject in the World.’ According to information printed on a piece of paper pasted across the lower margin, he was just over 6 feet tall and he weighed 577 pounds [563 was printed but this has been amended in ink to 577], which is a little more than 41 stone or just under 262 kilograms. His chest measured 68 inches and his waist 83 inches. He grew in size before his death in 1904.

Born in Dover, the son of local butcher William Longley, Thomas Longley was baptised on 5 March 1848 at St Mary the Virgin in Dover. At the time of the 1871 census, he was still living at home with his parents. On 4 May 1873 he married Helen Osborn at Holy Trinity, Dover. Their marriage produced three children.

When the census was taken in 1881, Thomas was a butcher in Kennington Lane, South London. In 1883 he became the landlord of the Star Inn on Church Street in Dover, a post he filled for the last 21 years of his life.

Thomas Longley died, aged 56, on 22 February 1904, leaving an estate valued at £416. His wife Helen died in 1911. The Star Inn closed its doors in 1940.

According to an obituary in a local paper: ‘His great bulk doubtless caused him discomfort and inconvenience, nevertheless he, until recent years, enjoyed good health. Visitors to the inn mentioned the fact of his remarkable size to their friends, and he became in a way somewhat of a curiosity, which could not have been pleasant to one who was naturally of a retiring disposition. […] It is said that this notoriety caused him to receive offers to go on “show” but he shrank from anything of the kind. Now that death has claimed our townsman, it becomes a matter of history to record that he was beyond question, previous to his illness, the heaviest man in the United Kingdom, his weight being 46 stone, and his chest measurement 86 in. […] For thirteen years he had been confined to his house. The last time he visited London he had to travel in the guard’s van since it was found impossible to pass his huge bulk through the doorway of an ordinary carriage’ (Dover Express and East Kent News, 26 February 1904).

The obituary concludes with an account of Longley’s funeral. Apparently his coffin required ten bearers ‘and additional help had to be given in carrying the remains up the slope.’

Photographed by James William Browning of Dover.

Browning registered portraits of Longley in 1885, 1887 and 1888. On each occasion Longley was recorded as the copyright owner and Browning as the author of the work. This particular portrait is almost certainly the photograph registered on 23 October 1888, which was described as ‘Sitting position, without coat or hat, shirt sleeves rolled up, bottom button of waistcoat undone, wearing watchchain and ring on left hand, hat on table.’