friends of stanton road cemetery ilkeston the ilkeston giant 1816-1875

Samuel Taylor, who grew to a height of 7 feet 4 ½ inches, was born in Little Hallam, Ilkeston, in 1816
to a farming family. According to newspaper accounts of the period, his father was also a tall man,
being six feet nine inches tall but his mother was the reverse, being only five feet.
Because of his height, Samuel found it difficult to find work in Ilkeston, and, at the age of sixteen, he
went to Castle Donington statutes, intending to find employment in service. Whilst there, he attended
a show exhibiting a “giant”, expecting to see a man of about fourteen feet in height, but, in his own
words:
“I entered the exhibition – a curtain was drawn, and discovered a man perhaps about six feet three.
All eyes were turned upon me. I stood beside the giant and made him look very insignificant. He didn’t
seem much to like the comparison. When I was leaving the showman tapped me on the shoulder and
wished to speak to me – would I accept of an engagement to travel, and be exhibited as a giant? I
laughed at the idea; however, handsome terms were offered me, and I accepted the situation,
regretting at the same time that I had to supplant, as well as succeed, the giant I had just seen. He was
much chagrined at my intrusion, as he called it; became very violent, and struck me. Now I was quite
a youth, only sixteen and he a man of thirty. I had never fought, and always inclined to be peaceable,
but the blow seemed to arouse the man within me; I madly attacked my rival, and notwithstanding his
superior weight and strength, I succeeded in making him cry peccavi.”
Thus began Samuel Taylor’s travelling show business career. He travelled with this establishment for
a while until he became connected with an establishment in which the owner’s daughter exhibited as a
glass blower. Harriet Reader and Samuel soon became attracted to each other but Harriet’s father
objected strongly to the match, resulting in them eloping when the exhibition was at Arbroath,
Scotland.
Fortunately, Samuel was ultimately welcomed into the family, and the couple married in Montrose. A
year later they went into business themselves but when that did not prove successful, Samuel tried
railway excavating. When this also failed, they set up a travelling show again and then changed course
altogether by running a public house in Manchester. However, the pull of show business life was too
strong and the family re-entered the travelling show circuit.
One of Samuel’s extraordinary feats included being able to harness his horse completely while
standing on one side of it. He simply bent over the animal while fastening the harness on the other
side.
The newspaper the Ilkeston Pioneer describes the Taylor’s show:
Many people remember for several winters in succession that the exhibition of Samuel Taylor, the
Ilkeston Giant was located on the Junction for three to four months. The show was open two or three
times a week. The programme included “glass blowing by Mrs Taylor” the showing of more or less
wild animals followed by dissolving views, mainly descriptive of the Crimean War and last but not
“least” by any means, the appearance of the giant himself. His height was seven feet and four inches
and the tallest gentleman in the company was always invited to come forward and stand underneath
his outstretched arm.