William Campbell – The Heaviest Man In The World

I have spent the last few days creating a few new tours in Newcastle, two of which are historic pub themed tours. Whilst deciding upon which pubs to visit I was reminded of a fascinating if I think tragic story behind the landlord of the Duke of Wellington Pub in High Bridge.

William Campbell was the landlord of the Duke of Wellington pub in Newcastle upon Tyne, and reputedly the heaviest man in Britain at the time.

Born in Glasgow in 1856, Campbell was one of seven children in a family who were all of average proportions, but his parents will have realised they had a whopper on their hands when he’d reached four stone at the age of nine months. He had ballooned to eighteen stone when he was ten years old, and had to quit his job as a printer in his teens when he’d reached forty stone.

Inspired by a freak show that visited Glasgow, Campbell decided to exhibit his vast body for money. He billed himself as ‘The Biggest Man In Britain’, ‘Her Majesty’s Largest Subject’ or ‘The Heaviest Man In The World’, depending on how the fancy took him. But he was generally known as ‘The Scottish Giant’, and became famous throughout Britain, which he toured extensively.

The Duke of Wellington public house on High Bridge in Newcastle was owned by the brewers Bartleman & Crighton and had been raided by the police for illegal gambling, coming within a whisker of losing its licence. The brewery decided to change the tone of their business by hiring a celebrity to run the pub, and celebrities didn’t come any bigger than William Campbell.

The licensing records state that he became landlord of the Duke of Wellington on November 11th 1877, although it was run by his wife Polly, who he’d married two years previously. Campbell was kept busy with a theatrical agency which he operated from the pub, and the upstairs rooms were used as accommodation for performers at the nearby Theatre Royal. There were musicians playing in the bar each evening and Campbell held private audiences with his admirers every Monday lunchtime, when he wasn’t out on the road.

A correspondent from the medical journal The Lancet visited Campbell at the Duke of Wellington and recorded his measurements. He stood six feet three inches tall, his waist was 85 inches and a single thigh had a circumference of 74 inches; it was said he weighed over 52 stone. He claimed to drink little alcohol, but the correspondent noted he smoked like a chimney. Needless to say, he had very limited mobility.

Campbell returned from London for an appearance at Newcastle’s Westgate Hall in February 1878, it took six strapping men to lift him from the train onto the platform at the Central Station. He failed to turn up for an appearance at the Mechanics Hall in Jarrow the following week, cabmen at the station had refused to take him there for fear of wrecking the suspension in their carriages.

He left Newcastle again for a series of engagements in London and France and came back to Newcastle with a bad cold. His condition worsened and he took to his bed for ten days upstairs at the Duke of Wellington, where he died on May 26th, 1878. He was twenty-two years old.

The location of his death presented serious problems for the undertakers, the combined weight of Campbell and his coffin weighed around a tonne. The window and a large part of the wall from his second-floor bedroom was removed so that he could be lowered by block and tackle onto a rolley. This bizarre spectacle was watched by a huge crowd and the Illustrated Police News published an engraving of it which you can see below.

Thousands of people lined the streets as the funeral procession made its way to Jesmond Cemetery, where a block and tackle was deployed again to lower him into the ground.

Sadly despite his eventful life not being that long ago, his grave was lost in the 1970s when a road next to the cemetery was widened. However you can still see evidence of William Campbell – The Biggest Man in Britain by looking at the brickwork which was replaced on the exterior of the Duke of Wellington after the Scottish Giant was removed from the building.

Looking at the engraving and the photo above, it’s clear that the streets and yard in front of the Duke of Wellington are largely unchanged since Victorian times.

Normally I create a pub tour on my own Ye Olde England Tours website but for various reasons, this one is up first on Viator/Trip Advisor so if you fancy a really great private pub tour in Newcastle then just clock below.

https://www.viator.com/tours/Newcastle-upon-Tyne/Newcastle-Pub-Tour/d23189-8607P105