Robert Hales

Robert Hales was born to William and Anne Hales on 2 May 1820, in the village of West Somerton near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. He was one of 9 children. Both his mother and his father were over 6 feet tall. His 5 sisters averaged about 6 feet 3 inches and his brothers averaged 6 feet 5 inches. However, one of his sisters (Mary Hales, later to become Mary Laskey) measured 7 feet 2 inches and another sister (Anne Hales, later to become Anne Laskey) measured only a few inches shorter than her sister Mary. Robert Hales grew to a height of 7 feet 8 inches tall. His weight was said to be over 32 stone and his chest measurment was 64 inches.

Robert's father William was a farmer but Robert himself became a sailor. At the age of 13 he joined the navy, but when he was 17 years old he became to big. Robert Hales started to exhibit himself at the Tombland Fair in Norwich and the Brittannia Fair in Great Yarmouth. Later he joined his sister Mary and her manager/husband Joe Laskey. After Mary Laskey died at the age of 30, Joe Laskey married the sister Anne Laskey who was about 6 feet 8 inches tall. Robert did not agree to Joe marrying his other sister and the group parted.

Robert Hales went to America where he met P.T. Barnum. Barnum signed him for his American Museum and Robert was exhibited in New York and was known as the Norfolk Giant. While with Barnum, he met and 'married' the giantess Eliza Simpson. He toured with Barnum for 2 years before he went back to England, tired of touring. He became the landlord of the Craven Head Tavern in Drury Lane in London. Robert Hales died in 1863 in Great Yarmouth and was burried in West Somerton.