James Kirkland (Irish giant)

1730) was an Irish giant and a member of the Potsdam Giants who served under Frederick William I of Prussia, known as the "Soldier King" and was a native of Ballygar, Ardagh, County Longford.

From Prussian measurements this converts to 217 centimetres or 7 feet 1 inches.

Kirkland was in 1730 a footman to Baron Borck, at the time Prussian Ambassador to London.

Borck, however, did not really need a footman, and had Kirkland forcibly impressed upon a Prussian ship at Portsmouth, where he was press-ganged into the Potsdam Guards.

One of his fellow soldiers was the poet Tomás Ó Caiside (c.1709–1773?).