Mary Ann Bevan
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Mary Ann Bevan (Template:Nee Webster; 20 December 1874Template:Spaced ndash26 December 1933) was an English nurse, who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world".[1]
Early years
Mary Ann Webster was one of 8 children born into a working-class family in Plaistow, East London. She later became a nurseScript error: No such module "Unsubst".. In 1902, she married Thomas Bevan[2] with whom she had four children. Thomas Bevan died suddenly in 1914.[3]
Sideshow career
Bevan started exhibiting the symptoms of acromegaly soon after she was married, around the age of 32.[4] 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.[3]
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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
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 a Dutch physician 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.[5]
References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:263B-WFY : 13 December 2014), Mary Ann Webster, 1902; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1902, quarter 2, vol. 2A, p. 839, Bromley, Kent, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ American Philosophical Society. 6 August 1924. "Mary Bevan and her children". Accessed 22 August 2007.
- ↑ Danzig, Jon. British Medical Journal. 4 November 2006. "Doctor protests at greeting card manufacturer making fun of woman with acromegaly".
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External links
- "Mary Ann Bevan, the world's ugliest woman", acromegaly at the Eugenics Archive
- Mary Ann Bevans [sic] – The Homeliest Woman in the World
- Podcast about Mary Ann Bevan [1]
- Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries (FOBLC) link to Mary Ann Bevan interment [2]