It is perfectly reasonable to conclude that Flemming was NOT exceptionally tall, but we cannot IGNORE the written evidence. Whatever may be LIKELY, we have no reason wholly to dismiss the entry.
It's far too tall for the East End 1888.
Not a safe conclusion. He could have been known and accepted as very tall and people had got beyond mentioning it. Equally, you can have exceptionally tall, heavy, short etc people in any population. I don't think that is a safe conclusion.
Too tall to be not commented on by the medics.
We don't know what the medics commented on. we only know no comment was made in the records we have.
Too tall to have not been mentioned by MJK and her friends.
Again Flemming is only mentioned at second hand, we have no idea how he was perceived or spoken of at the time. the fact that his exceptional height was not mentioned in the records we have tells us/proves nothing.
And 11st to 11st8lbs make a more than surprisingly thin fellow.
So he was very thin? People are.
Either on this thread or elsewhere on Casebook, I posted a picture of "Long Sol" Meredith, an American Civil War general (Union forces). That was in the 1860s so very much in the time-frame we are considering. Lincoln himself was tall and "rangey". Meredith was six seven and evidently not portly (see re-posted pic). While his unusual height was referenced in his nickname, it does not appear to have stopped him doing his job.
So while I myself work on a normal height for Flemming and assume a mistake in the records, I am equally open (as I should be) to a tall thin man.
Phil
It's far too tall for the East End 1888.
Not a safe conclusion. He could have been known and accepted as very tall and people had got beyond mentioning it. Equally, you can have exceptionally tall, heavy, short etc people in any population. I don't think that is a safe conclusion.
Too tall to be not commented on by the medics.
We don't know what the medics commented on. we only know no comment was made in the records we have.
Too tall to have not been mentioned by MJK and her friends.
Again Flemming is only mentioned at second hand, we have no idea how he was perceived or spoken of at the time. the fact that his exceptional height was not mentioned in the records we have tells us/proves nothing.
And 11st to 11st8lbs make a more than surprisingly thin fellow.
So he was very thin? People are.
Either on this thread or elsewhere on Casebook, I posted a picture of "Long Sol" Meredith, an American Civil War general (Union forces). That was in the 1860s so very much in the time-frame we are considering. Lincoln himself was tall and "rangey". Meredith was six seven and evidently not portly (see re-posted pic). While his unusual height was referenced in his nickname, it does not appear to have stopped him doing his job.
So while I myself work on a normal height for Flemming and assume a mistake in the records, I am equally open (as I should be) to a tall thin man.
Phil
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