1. Miriam Kate Williams sometimes called Kate Roberts and better known by her stage name Vulcana, was a Welsh strongwoman.
11 Facts About Vulcana
1. 2.
Vulcana met William Roberts at the local women's gymnasium he ran in 1890, when she was fifteen.
3.
Atlas, a true showman of his times, greatly exaggerated his own and Vulcana's lifting capacities, and most of his published boasts have been dismissed.
4.
At these times, Vulcana's reputation suffered alongside his, although her authenticated accomplishments were genuinely remarkable for a woman of her era.
5.
Vulcana reached the height of her popularity in France, impressing the Halterophile Club de France with her feats of strength, which earned her a medal from the "Father of French Bodybuilding", Professor Edmond Desbonnet and a picture on the cover of La Sante par les Sports.
6.
Vulcana was honored with over one hundred medals throughout her career.
7.
Vulcana freed a wagon stuck in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London in October 1901 by lifting it before astonished witnesses.
8.
Authorities believe Vulcana reached the peak of her strength in about 1910.
9.
Vulcana was hit by a car in London in 1939, and was conscious when she heard her own death pronounced.
10.
Vulcana suffered brain damage, but partially recovered, and briefly outlived Atlas and her youngest daughter, both of whom died in 1946.
11.
Vulcana did not want her children left with relatives or in orphanages, and insisted on raising them herself.