Thomas Topham

Thomas Topham, who lived from about 1710 until 10 August 1749, was a London strongman of the eighteenth century who made his name with public displays of strength. A carpenter's son who trained in his father's trade, he ran public houses in London and drew crowds with feats such as pulling against a horse while lying on his back, lying between two chairs while several men stood on his body, and raising three hogsheads of water weighing about 833 kilograms with a rope over his shoulders in 1741. He toured Ireland, Scotland and parts of England, and the scientist John Theophilus Desaguliers vouched for some of his feats before the Royal Society. A pewter dish he rolled up in 1737 is kept in the British Museum. He died in 1749.