Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Jane Bunford 241 cm Tall women

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Tall women -- United Kingdom  United Kingdom
Jane Bunford 241 cm Former world's tallest woman (until Zeng Jinlian) and possibly the world's tallest person at the time of her death in April 1922 at 7 ft 7 in (231 cm), but due to a curved spine she could not stand up straight. However, if her spine had normal curvature, she would have stood 7 ft 11 in (241 cm).Jane "Jinny" Bunford (26 July 1895 – 1 April 1922) is the tallest Briton ever recorded in British medical history. the second tall women in the world.tall women. Tall women.


Tall women: She was the tallest woman in the world during her lifetime, and she still may hold two further records - that she was twice the tallest living person in the world, - between 1916 and 1919, and between 20 May 1921 and 1 April 1922. and that she could have had the longest hair in Britain, during her lifetime. Jane Bunford continues to be one of the most mysterious giants to have lived during the 20th century. Not much is known about her, and no photographs, if any still do exist, have ever been seen by or shown to the general public. Jane was listed in the Guinness Book of Records between 1972 and 2001, and they only published a photograph of her skeleton and a copy of her death certificate, which they obtained on 10 February 1972. A copy of it appeared at the foot of page 11 in the 1972 publication. Tall women.


Introduction

Tall women: Jane's parents were John Bunford (March 1856 - 10 December 1916) and Jane Bunford née Andrews, (May 1857 - 1934) of Bartley Green, Northfield, Birmingham, UK. Her father was a metal caster. Known as "Jinny" Bunford, Jane was a quiet, shy and gentle-natured child who enjoyed good health during the first 11 years of her life. While she was quite tall for her age, her growth rate was not unusual or exceptional before her accident. In June 1906, she stood 5 ft (1.52 m) tall. Tall women.

Life changing accident

Tall women: In October 1906, Jane's life changed forever, when she fractured her skull after falling off her bicycle and hitting her head on the pavement. Although the 11-year-old Jane couldn't have known it at the time, the injury permanently damaged her pituitary gland, ] releasing an excess of growth hormone which sent her growth out of control. The accident also indirectly led to her death in April 1922. It was not until 1915, nine years after her accident that scientists definitely determined that the pituitary gland is responsible for producing growth hormones in humans, and though the problem was identified, no treatment was available for hyperpituitarism during Jane's lifetime. Tall women.

School

Tall women: Jane attended St. Michael's Secondary School in Bartley Green. At school she displayed a talent for embroidery, but Jane was tormented at school after her accident. Also, the desks and chairs became too uncomfortable for her to sit at. As a result of both factors, Jane's parents took her out of school before her 13th birthday on 26 July 1908. That day Jane was measured at her home, in her bare feet, as being 6 ft 6 in tall or 1.98 m. Two years after that, around the time of her 15th birthday in July 1910, Jane hit the 7 ft (2.13 m) mark. Four years later, in 1914, she was measured at 7 feet 8 inches (2.33 m) tall. On her 21st birthday Jane was measured at 7 ft 10 in (2.39 m) tall, her peak standing height. Tall women.
Life as a giantess
Tall women: Jane rejected several opportunities to benefit financially from her size and appearance. She had dead straight auburn hair, which she grew until it was 8 ft 1 in long. She wore it in two plaits and it came down to her ankles, according to the 1972 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. When loose her hair fell around her like a cloak reaching the ground. She refused an offer from a man who wished to purchase her hair for a small fortune . She also rejected offers to appear in various shows for what were large sums of money at the time. Tall women.
Tall women: Spurning offers to become wealthy, Jane worked at a Cadburys chocolate factory for a time after leaving school, though in the April 1911 Census, she is listed as "Jinny Bunford", aged 15, and under occupation there is nothing listed. Tall women.
Tall women: After her father died in December 1916, aged 60, Jane and her mother moved from Adams Hill, Bartley Green, to Jiggins Lane, Bartley Green, where she lived until her own death. She took holidays away from Bartley Green, to visit relatives or the seaside. Tall women.
Tall women: Jane, however, in her final years, became a recluse. She hated the attention her size brought her, and her spine developed a severe curvature. Due to this, Jane could not stand fully erect towards the end of her life. This also developed because she had to stoop and bend down often when passing through doors. This condition is often seen in very tall people and occurred in both Eddie Carmel and John F. Carroll, who like Jane, grew normally during their early years. By the end of her life, Jane was also in constant pain because of joint problems and other ailments. Tall women.

Memories of Britain's tallest person

Tall women: When interviewed in January 1972, elderly residents of Bartley Green remembered Jane Bunford as a woman with a deep voice and a gentle nature. A man from Birmingham who wrote to the Daily Mail newspaper on 22 September 2008 said two of his maiden aunts were contemporaries of Jane, and went to the same school, and they said she was a kind, gentle and shy woman who was much loved by younger children. Tall women.
Tall women: She often baby-sat young children in the area, as a favour for neighbours, and several people in their old age recalled seeing her clean the upstairs windows of her cottage while standing on the pavement, such was her reach. Jane had a close friend named Emma, who was a dwarf and lived nearby. Tall women.

Death

Tall women: In March 1922, Jane stood 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in) tall, in her final measurement taken when she was alive. It was estimated that she would have been 2.41 m (7 ft 11 in), if she had not developed the spinal curvature. Tall women.
Tall women: Jane died at her home on 1 April 1922. She was living with her mother at the time. Her death was registered two days later by her older brother. Tall women.
Tall women: Jane's funeral was held at St Michaels and All Angels Church, Bartley Green, on 5 April 1922. According to undertaker's records published in General Practitioner, her coffin was 8 ft 2 in long and was probably the longest ever used for a UK funeral. It was locked in the church overnight on 4/5 April 1922. Tall women.
Tall women: Four schoolboys who carried her coffin from the church to the graveyard remarked later that it felt strangely light for someone of Jane's size but they didn't inquire why. If they had, the later outrage of the whereabouts of Jane's skeleton may have been avoided. However if Jane's full body had been buried on 5 April 1922, then she almost certainly would never have been listed in the Guinness Book of Records half a century later and probably would have been consigned to anonymity forever, as she would have had she been cremated. Tall women.

The truth comes out in 1971

Tall women: Nothing was reported or written about Jane Bunford during the next half-century. No obituary or verses appeared in the local newspaper when she died, and outside friend and family circles, she appeared to have been forgotten. That all changed in 1971 when the Guinness Book of Records heard about the skeleton of a giantess that was on display in the anatomical part of Birmingham University. Tall women.
Tall women: The October 1971 edition of the Guinness Book of Records published a photograph of Jane's skeleton. They didn't say it belonged to her, but that the identity of the skeleton "remains a 50-year-old secret". The edition revealed was that it belonged to an "Unidentified giantess who died in Northfield, Birmingham, England in 1921 aged c. 24 years", and noted that the "Skeleton has a mounted height of 7 feet 4 inches but she had a severe curvature indicating a height of c. 7 feet 9 inches when alive. A note on page 304 said "The most recent research into the identity of the Northfield giantess indicates that she died in 1922". Tall women.
Tall women: Measurements of Jane Bunford's skeleton were obtained in 1971. They were—Chin to top of head, 10.75 in (27.31 cm). Arm span = 8 ft 1.25 in (247.02 cm). Length from top of head to waist, 3 ft 0.75 in (93.35 cm). Length from top of head to crotch, 3 ft 11 in (119.38 cm). Wrist to tip of middle-finger, 10.5 in (26.67 cm). Length from waist to heel, 4 ft 10.25 in (147.96 cm). Heel to tip of big toe, 13 inches (33.02 cm). Tall women.
Tall women: Birmingham University initially declined to reveal the skeleton's identity, but interest had been awakened by the photograph. The "50-year-old secret" was uncovered, as Jane was the only giantess living in the Northfield area who fitted its description, and as a result of the publicity, in November 1971 the University were forced to admit that the skeleton was that of Jane Bunford's, whose story was featured on ATV towards the end of 1971 and in a brief Daily Mirror article on 3 February 1972, with a headline stating "Body snatch mystery of Giant Jane". Tall women.
Tall women: Although Birmingham University admitted the skeleton's identity, they still refused to state how they obtained it. According to a February 1972 General Practitioner article, the University refused to allow any more photographs to be taken, further information was withheld and questions from journalists were not permitted, at the request of the head of the Bunford family. Tall women.
Tall women: In the General Practitioner article, Jane's relatives denied that they had sold or given her body to medical science. It is not known whether her siblings were aware of the removal when she died or if they gave permission for the medical school to remove it. Her siblings were mostly dead by the time the controversy arose over her skeleton's whereabouts. Two of them died in 1970. Tall women.
Tall women: According to her death certificate, Jane died of hyperpituitarism and gigantism. In October 1972, the Guinness Book of Records listed Jane Bunford as being Britain's tallest recorded woman. For the next nine years she was named as the tallest female recorded in medical history, and was listed in that publication for the next 30 years as the tallest women in British medical history. Tall women.

A second funeral

Tall women: As the 20th century drew to a close, plans arose for a plaque to be erected in Bartley Green to commemorate her life. Her cousin opposed the erection of the plaque whereas others wanted it to be as tall as Jane was when she was alive. Neither party got their way. A seven-foot plaque in commemoration of Jane "Ginny" Bunford was placed on the wall of Bartley Green Local Library on 10 April 2000, almost exactly 78 years to the day after her death. However the wall was 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m) high, an inch taller than Jane was at the time of her death. Tall women.
Tall women: Despite the controversy over the 1971 discovery, Jane's skeleton continued to be displayed at Birmingham University until 2005, when her family managed to regain it, after changes in the Data Protection Act. Before then, they were not allowed access to see the skeleton as it was being used for medical purposes. Tall women.
Tall women: At some point between February and June 2005, after a private second funeral, Jane's skeleton was finally buried. However, no headstone marks Jane's grave to this day. Tall women.
Birmingham University's Medical School confirmed in 2007 that: "The skeleton of Jane Bunford is no longer in the Medical School. We have disposed the anatomy collection and the skeleton of Jane Bunford has been buried. Tall women.

See also
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Posted by Caitrinas