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John Love: ‘England’s fattest man.’

John Love from Weymouth was reckoned at one time to be the fattest man in England. By trade, he was a bookseller and publisher but was also an accomplished artist. He did much to promote an interest in art in Dorset. In his shop he had both a library and exhibition rooms. In 1788, he published a Guide to Weymouth.

He was so corpulent he regularly wore a waistband nearly up to his neck to prevent his trousers from falling down. John Love rarely wore a coat. Most of the time he just wore his nightshirt in which he was more comfortable. 

John Love had studied in London under William Ryland, Engraver to the King who was executed for the crime of forgery. Terrified by his master’s  shameful death, Love returning to Weymouth. Initially, he was quite puny so his Dorchester doctor prescribed a diet of fatty foods as medicine. Results  of this and his overeating soon became evident in his expanding waistline.  ‘Giving himself up entirely to wine and dainties’ he ‘gave himself full scope to his desires.’

‘Suffocated by fat’, the well-rounded book man died  in 1793 after confessing to having developed a relish for the pleasures of the table. Buried in Weymouth, the coffin and corpse were said to have weighed about a ton,


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  1. Anonymous28 January 2025 at 22:53

    Heavyset man was Daniel Lambert of Leicester at over 52 stone

    ReplyDelete

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