Edward Bright

Edward Bright (1721-1750) was a grocer in Maldon, Essex, England, the "fat man of Maldon"^[1], who was reputed at the time of his death in 1750 to be the "fattest man in England". He lived in a house on Maldon's High Street, and is buried in Maldon's Church of All Saints.

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Bright weighed 47.5 stone (665 lb or 302 kg).

His coat was said to be large enough to have seven men stand inside it.

His portrait was painted in 1750 by David Ogborne (1700-1768), after whose painting various etchings^[2] were published, including:

• 1750 - Irish engraver James McArdell (1728-1765)
• 1751 - Anthony Walker, published by John Hinton

In 2000, a bronze relief^[3] of seven men in Bright's coat, by sculptor Catharni Stern^[4], was installed at the King's Head Centre off Maldon's High Street, near Bright's former home.

Notes and trivia

Some references have the year of his death as 1756.

The story of seven men, or seven hundred men, fitting into Bright's coat is said to derive from the tale^[5] of a man in a local pub (hotel) who tempted a gambler with a bet that seven hundred men would fit into Edward Bright’s waistcoat. The bet was accepted. The gambler lost, because seven men from the Dengie Hundred (a parcel of land) fitted into the waistcoat.

References

1. ^ Local Heroes, Maldon [1], accessed 15 February 2007
2. ^ National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom), [2] accessed 15 February 2007
3. ^ image of Stern's bronze relief [3] accessed 16 February 2007
4. ^ Evening Gazette, Maldon: Bronze of Fat man's coat [4] accessed 16 February 2007
5. ^ Maldon and Dengie Hundred Group [5] accessed 16 February 2007