Jane Bunford

Who was Jane Bunford?

Jane "Jinny" Bunford was the tallest person in English medical history, measuring 2.41 metres at the time of her death.

She was the tallest person 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. She is the tallest person ever recorded in England, Scotland or Wales, and the tallest person recorded in Britain since September 1806. At the time of her death she was also the tallest woman in world medical history, a record that stood for the next sixty years.

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. Bunford was listed in the Guinness Book of Records between 1972 and 2001 but they only once 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.