Frederick Kempster - 7'9.3" (237 cm)

The Early Years of Frederick John Kempster, The English Giant By James Kempster, his great-nephew In 1988 I wrote to Dr. Barnardo’s that operated as an orphanage in England a century ago. Between the 1870’s and 1930, Barnardo’s found homes for about 100,000 English children in Canada. Frederick and his younger brother George, who was my grandfather, were among those children, and Barnardo’s records contains much information about the brothers and their family. Frederick was born to Joseph and Jane Kempster on 13 April 1889 at Bayswater, London, and was baptized on 9 June 1889 as shown in the registry entry shown above. In the 1891 census, Frederick now aged 2, is listed with his parents and other siblings still at home. The George Kempster listed is not my grandfather George who would not be born until 21 August 1895, but a boarder. (I suspect he was a nephew of Joseph’s, and thus a cousin to the brothers.) This is an entry from the Index of Deaths October to December 1897. Frederick’s father Joseph died of asthma and bronchitis on 25 December 1897. On 10 September 1898, George and Frederick were admitted to Barnardo’s orphanage, as Jane could not afford to keep them. She got work as a servant in a private home, and could not keep her children with her there. The boys went to the receiving house in Stepney. On 14 October 1898 Frederick moved to Leopold House in Stepney. On 23 March 1899, he sailed to Canada aboard the SS Scotsman arriving at St. John on 3 April 1899. (In a side note, the SS Scotsman sank on another trip later that same year.) In October 1899 he was placed with Mr. A. W. Allan at Orange Ridge, Manitoba. In February 1901 he was still with Mr. Allan, but had moved to Glenella, Manitoba. In December 1901 he had moved to Mr. George Munro in Glen Smith, Manitoba. He returned to England on 12 November 1904 aboard the SS Canada because he was unfit for work due to knee problems and lengthening of the tibias. He had an operation at Barnardo’s own hospital, and on 7 April 1905 he was able to return to work at Barnardo’s Youth Labour House at Commercial Road, East London. In 1911 he was living at their Boy’s Garden City at Woodford Bridge, Essex. In June 1911, he got a job with Astley and Company’s American Circus at Chigwell. When World War I began, he was on tour with the circus in Germany, and was detained by the Germans for 2 years, during which time his health deteriorated. When he was finally released and returned to England, he learned that his brother George (my grandfather) had been wounded in the fighting in Europe and was in hospital in London. Grandpa tells of being visited by his brother, who was so tall that he searched for grandpa by looking in through the transom windows above the doors to the wards. This must have frightened some of the wounded soldiers! Frederick died on 9 April 1918 in Blackburn, UK during the great influenza epidemic. These pictures of the 9 year old Frederick and 3 year old George were taken when they were admitted to Barnardo’s on 10 September 1898. This article was found on a medical website dedicated to gigantism. If the 1915 date is correct, the examination was done while he was a prisoner in Germany. Frederic John Kempster (1889, Bayswater, London (UK)—1918, Blackburn (UK))–was also known as “the Blackburn Giant” or “The Gentle Essex Giant” or “Frederick the Great” . At the onset of the age of 15, he experienced rather severe headaches and started growing rapidly. At his death at the age of 29 he was 2.56 m. (8 ft. 4½ in.) and weighed 171.5 kg. (378 lbs.) and wore size 22 shoes (410 mm., 16 inches long). Anthropometrics and his case history were taken by Dr. Gigon (Basle, Switzerland) in 1915 . He was of normal intelligence. He had typical acromegalic features including: prognathism, large hands, a big nose and a large tongue. The right foot was 34 cm (1 ft. 1½ in.) and the left foot size was 32,5 cm (1 ft. 1 in.) in length. He had a kyphoscoliosis. He had a deep voice although he used to be a tenor until the age of 18. There were signs of hypogonadism as: the absence of a beard and a moustache as well as the absence of axillary hair or chest hair. There was scanty pubic hair. Testis size was normal for a normal-sized man. The left leg was shorter than the right leg. The muscles were weak. A sellar radiograph showed an enlarged sella turcica with a diameter of 28 mm (1¼ in). A hand radiograph showed that the epiphysial plates had not yet fully closed. Furthermore there was marked osteoporosis . In 1910 he traveled to Germany, to work in the vaudeville where he was called “Teddy Bobs”. At the outbreak of the First World War he was interned as a “prisoner of war” by the Germans in 1914. He prompt fell ill and was hospitalized until his release in 1916. Back in England, his health remained poor and in 1918 he fell ill with pneumonia as a result of the influenza epidemic and died. With permission taken from: 'Acromegaly and gigantism in the medical literature. Case descriptions in the era before and the early years after the initial publication of Pierre Marie (1886)' by Wouter W. de Herder. This article is from the August 1911 edition of the magazine Popular Mechanics, and shows Frederick taking part in activities planned for the coronation of King George V that year. Photograph acquired by Dr. Thomas Harvey (MRCS, LRCP 1872-1944), who was the local doctor in Avebury in the 1910s, courtesy of his grandson David Nelson. As a final note of interest, I found a review of the book Der Uber Leichen Geht about the creator of the “Body Works” exhibit of preserved human corpses Gunther Von Hagens, by authors Torsten Peuker and Christian Schulz. The title roughly translates as “He’ll stop at nothing” In a chapter entitled “ Die Jagd nach der Leiche XXL “ which translates as “The Hunt for the Extra Extra Large Corpse” the authors claim that after Von Hagens had failed to get a Russian giant to will his remains to Von Hagens for his exhibit, he hatched a plan to steal Frederick’s remains from his grave in Blackburn! I do not read German, and I do not know if the book has been translated into English, but this is a truly extraordinary last chapter in the life and death of Frederick Kempster, giant. Many thanks to James Kempster, Frederick's great-nephew for writing this excellent article about Frederick's (short) life. James also told me that with genealogy sites and the internet, he now knows more about his family history than anyone has known in the last century. Frederick has grown from being a family legend to a real family member.

From the book: Lancashire magic & mystery: secrets of the Red Rose County By Kenneth Fields
Frederick Kempster touring Germany as Teddy Bobs
		Uber Zwergwuchs und Riesenwuchs by Alfred Gigon, Basel. German language. Link will open in .pdf format, Adobe Viewer/reader needed.
Notes on a giant, William Robinson. Link will open in .pdf format, Adobe Viewer/reader needed.