Size does matter

[Borys]

Ahoj!
I can't find the "I'm too fat to fit in a submarine" thread.

I nicked this table of the Great War forum. These are sizes of jackets and number of each size in every 1000 as ordered by British Army in 1912 or 1913 for its soldiers.

2------------------------5'3" and 5'4"-----------32" and 33" -----------15
4------------------------5'3" and 5'4"-----------34" and 35" -----------27
6------------------------5'3" and 5'4"-----------36" and 37" -----------25
8------------------------5' 5" and 5'6"----------34" and 35" -----------155
10-----------------------5' 5" and 5'6"----------36" and 37" -----------85
12-----------------------5' 5" and 5'6"----------38" and 39" -----------30
14-----------------------5'7" and 5'8"-----------35" and 36" -----------240
16-----------------------5'7" and 5'8"-----------37" and 38" -----------84
18-----------------------5'7" and 5'8"-----------39" and 40" -----------24
20-----------------------5'9" and 5'10"----------36" and 37" -----------177
22-----------------------5'9" and 5'10"----------38" and 39" -----------50
24-----------------------5'9" and 5'10"----------40" and 41" -----------12
26-----------------------5'11" and 6'------------38" and 39" -----------55
28-----------------------5'11" and 6'------------40" and 41" -----------7
30-----------------------5'11" and 6'------------42" and 43" -----------3
32-----------------------6'1" and 6'2"-----------39" and 40" -----------9
34-----------------------6'1" and 6'2"-----------41" and 42" -----------1
36-----------------------6'1" and 6'2"-----------43" and 44"------------1

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=66661&hl=


Mind you, the Grenadier Guards were all 6'2" or higher ...

[Carthaginian]

It is amazing how much people in general have grown.

My paternal Grandfather (forever after to be referred to as 'Pops') and I both entered the US Army at age 22, in good health and were average sized for our group of recruits.
Pops was 5'5", 145 lbs. This was in 1941
I was 6'3¹/₂", 185 lbs. This was in 2001.

That's a lot of difference in a very short time, really, considering that people, on average, didn't get much taller and heavier than he was for several hundred years, and then the 'average' size of a man today is 6'0", 180 lbs or so.

[P3D]

Protein-rich diet makes wonders.

[Walter]

This is where it started...
http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=882.0

A few quick things I found on the net...
From here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11293346&dopt=Abstract

Statistics Norway has published data on the average height of conscripts since 1910. Average height of men was 171.4 cm in 1920 and increased by 7.3 cm to 178.7 cm in 1970. Over the last 30 years, average height has increased only 1 cm, to 179.7 cm in 2000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?ex=1176955200&en=55ba28694cf20c20&ei=5070

People even look different today. American men, for example, are nearly three inches taller than they were 100 years ago and about 50 pounds heavier.

http://www.progressdaily.com/2006/07/31/bigger-healthier/

Men living in the Civil War era had an average height of 5-foot-7 and weighed an average of 147 pounds. Today, men average 5-foot-9½ and weigh an average of 191 pounds