Anna Haining Bates

Anna Haining Bates (née Swan; August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888), was a Canadian woman notable for her great stature of . She was one of the tallest women ever. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.
Early life
Anna Swan was born at Mill Brook, New Annan, Nova Scotia. At birth she weighed . She was the third of 13 children, all of the others being around average height. From birth she grew very rapidly. On her fourth birthday she was tall and weighed . On her 6th birthday she was measured at tall, an inch or two (2.5–5 cm) shorter than her mother. On her 10th birthday she measured tall and weighed . On her 12th birthday she measured . By her 15th birthday Bates was tall. She reached her full height three years later. Her feet measured long.
Swan 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.
Circus career
When she was 17, Swan started working with American showman P. T. Barnum. She lived in Barnum's American Museum in New York City, and on 13 July 1865, she nearly burned to death when the museum was destroyed by fire. The stairs were in flames and she was too large to escape through a window. At the time she weighed 384 lb. (159 kg). Her highest recorded weight was 418 lb or just under 30st. She got help and escaped safely.
Swan later toured the western United States, followed by Europe where she appeared before Queen Victoria. When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates — another enormously tall person known as the "Kentucky Giant" — was travelling, Swan was spotted by the promoter and hired on the spot. The giant couple became a touring sensation and eventually fell in love; they married on June 17, 1871 in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Queen Victoria gave Anna a satin gown and diamond ring, and gave Martin an engraved watch.
Later life
The Bateses retired to Seville, Ohio, where they built a mansion with high ceilings and doorframes. The main part of the house had ceilings, while the doors were extra wide and were tall. The back part of the house was built an average size for servants and guests.
Bates conceived two children with Martin. The first was a girl born on May 19, 1872; she weighed and died at birth. While touring in the summer of 1878, Anna was pregnant for the second time. The boy was born on January 18, 1879, and survived only 11 hours. He was the largest newborn ever recorded, at and nearly 30 inches tall (ca. 75 cm); each of his feet was long. For this he was posthumously awarded a Guinness World Record.
The Bateses resumed touring with the W.W. Cole Circus in the summer of 1879, and again in the spring of 1880. Bates spent her remaining years quietly on the farm that she and her husband owned. She had joined the local Baptist Church in 1877 and attended services with her husband.
Bates died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure in her sleep at her home on August 5, 1888, one day before her 42nd birthday.
The cause of her height was never discovered in her lifetime. X-rays were not discovered until 1895, so it could not be ascertained if she had a pituitary tumor.
References
External links
The Anna Swan Digital Collection
A giant of a woman: Anna Haining Swan(2009-10-25)
A photograph of Swan
1846 births
1888 deaths
Canadian people of Scottish descent
World record holders
People from Seville, Ohio
People from Colchester County
People with gigantism
Pre-Confederation Nova Scotia people
Sideshow performers
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)