The vicar from Beverley who became a national celebrity as the Regency era's fattest man

Edward Coltman, who was vicar of Beverley Minster, used a strengthened velocipede, a walking bicycle, to get around and needed a team of vergers to propel his huge body up into the pulpit when it was his turn to give a sermon.

He officially became Britain’s fattest man, when the Leicester jail keeper Daniel Lambert, who weighed in at 51 stones, died at the age of 39, in the Waggon and Horses Inn at Stamford after a day at the races in June 1809.

Although somewhat lighter at 43 stones, the clergyman continued to hold the title for the next 28 years.

When he died in 1837, his giant coffin was taken on a stone transporter through the streets to a burial in the Minster graveyard that involved serious lifting tackle.

The clergyman’s jaw-dropping size is on show this week, thanks to a remarkable early 19th century watercolour silhouette portrait that has turned up out of the blue and has been entered into Duggleby Stephenson’s Country House Sale that is taking place at the York Auction Centre on Friday June 20.

Duggleby Stephenson paintings specialist Holly Hammond said: “The Reverend Coltman’s silhouette causes amazement even today but two hundred years ago the public was completely enthralled.

"Coltman and Lambert had a sort of national celebrity status. Everybody wanted to see them.”

Ms Hammond said the lot was already attracting interest from all over the country and bidding would start at £500.

Life wasn’t easy for Coltman who became so heavy that when he was still a student at Trinity College Cambridge, he had to commission the special bicycle to help him get around.

When he became perpetual curate at the Minster in 1813, the floors at the parsonage had to be strengthened because of his weight and the doors widened to enable him to enter the rooms.

He was a “respected scholar and clergyman who played a notable part in the life of Beverley Minster, the town and the wider Yorkshire area” added Ms Hammond.

“He championed local education, helped establish schools, supported charitable institutions and was a vocal advocate of the abolition of slavery and Catholic emancipation.”

The auction starts at 11am.

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