Mary Ann Bevan

Mary Ann Bevan was an English nurse, who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world".

Early years

Mary Ann Webster was one of 8 children born into a working-class family in Plaistow, East London. She later became a nurse. In 1902, she married Thomas Bevan with whom she had four children. Thomas Bevan died suddenly in 1914.

Sideshow career

Bevan started exhibiting the symptoms of acromegaly soon after she was married, around the age of 32. She began to suffer from abnormal growth and facial distortion, along with severe headaches and fading eyesight. After the death of her husband in 1914, she no longer had the income to support herself and her four children. Bevan decided to capitalize on her appearance and entered an "Ugliest Woman" contest, which she won.
In 1920, she was hired by American showman Samuel W. Gumpertz to appear in Coney Island's Dreamland sideshow, a form of freak show, where she spent most of the remainder of her life. She also made appearances for the Ringling Brothers Circus until her death. She was interred at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries.. In a contemporary newspaper from 1926, it was noted that she hated being pitied and was a pleasant woman to talk to; it also mentioned that she had size 12 feet.

Legacy

In the early 2000s, Bevan's image was used by Hallmark Cards on a birthday card in the United Kingdom.
The card made reference to the television dating show Blind Date. Subsequently, a complaint was made by Dutch physician Wouter de Herder that it was disrespectful to a woman who had become deformed as the result of a disease. Hallmark agreed that it was inappropriate and stopped the distribution of the card.