English Folk Figure. Born in Leicester to John Lambert, the Keeper of the County Bridewell (Jail). He was by all accounts an athletic and healthy boy often swimming in the River Soar. He also bred cockerels and dogs and was an avid hunter. At the age of 21 after seven years as an engravers apprentice, he replaced his father as Keeper of the Bridewell. The prisoners in his charge appeared to have held Lambert in high regard, and the magistrates were happy with his efforts. When the Bridewell was merged with the county prison in 1804, and his services were no longer required, he was granted a pension. Lambert's extraordinary weight increase, however, seemed to have begun at the time he was made Keeper of the Bridewell despite reports that he did not drink and never ate more than one helping at mealtimes. By 1793, Lambert's weight had increased to 448 pounds, and by 1804, he weighed 686 pounds. In order to make the extra money his condition required by way of custom clothes and carriages, Lambert put himself on display as a curiosity charging the exorbitant sum of five shillings per person. Lambert, however, seemed to prefer his privacy and hated both prostituting himself and the condition that made it necessary. He died suddenly at an Inn in Stamford where he had gone to see the races. Lambert had grown so huge, that the only way that they could remove his body was by removing a window and part of a wall. His weight at death was 739 pounds. His coffin was six feet four inches long, four feet four inches wide and two feet four inches deep and was built upon wheels and took more than 20 men to lower it down a ramp into his final resting place. Lambert's clothes, custom built chair, and other items are still on display at museums in Stamford and Leicester.