Skip to main content

The Tragic Story Of Mary Ann Bevan, The ‘Ugliest Woman In The World’


  After a beautiful English woman named Mary Ann Bevan developed acromegaly, she was forced to perform in sideshows and circuses to support her family in the early 20th century.


  Mary Ann Bevan wasn’t always “ugly.” Born on the then-outskirts of London in the late-19th century, she looked much the same as any other young woman of the time, and was even considered attractive.

That all changed when, well into adulthood and a mother several times over, a rare disfiguring disease began to manifest in her. After just a few short years, her features, hands, and feet were distorted beyond all recognition, and with no other recourse, Bevan made use of her looks to earn a living.

This is the story of how Mary Ann Bevan became the Ugliest Woman in the World, one of the most tragic figures in the once-thriving sideshow business, to support herself and her family.

Mary Ann Bevan’s Early Life

Mary Ann Webster was born on Dec. 20, 1874, to a large family on the eastern edge of London. Throughout her childhood, she was no different than her siblings, and she eventually qualified as a nurse in 1894 before marrying Thomas Bevan, a farmer from the county of Kent, in 1903.

The Bevans settled into a happy, fruitful life, and the marriage produced two sons and two daughters, all healthy. Sadly, Thomas died suddenly in 1914, leaving Mary with four children to support on her small income. Not long after the loss of her husband, she began to show signs of acromegaly, a disorder marked by the overproduction of growth hormones in the pituitary glands.

Acromegaly is one of the rarer pituitary conditions, and today, it can be treated if detected early enough. However, under the limitations of early 20th-century medicine, Bevan had no way of treating or preventing the condition, and she soon found her features changing beyond recognition.

Mary Ann Bevan Deals With Acromegaly Head-On


As a result of her condition, Bevan’s otherwise normal hands and feet grew out of all proportion, her forehead and lower jaw bulged outward, and her nose grew visibly larger. Her changing looks made it difficult to find and keep work, and she resorted to odd jobs to provide for her family.

The rare condition left her permanently disfigured. Years later, a former fairground worker claimed that it was a farmer for whom she was working who told Bevan that “all [she was] fit for [was] the ugly woman competition.”

Taking the farmer’s words to heart, Bevan soon entered a “Homeliest Woman” contest, and handily beat 250 competitors to earn the dubious title. Her victory brought her to the attention of sideshow owners, and since her doctor assured her that her condition would only grow worse, she decided to capitalize on it for the sake of her children. Soon, she had regular work in a traveling fair, appearing at fairgrounds throughout the British Isles.

In 1920, Bevan answered an advertisement in a London newspaper reading “Wanted: Ugliest woman. Nothing repulsive, maimed or disfigured. Good pay guaranteed, and long engagement for successful applicant. Send recent photograph.” The ad had been placed by a British agent for Barnum and Bailey’s circus, who found that she had “what may sound like a paradox, the face of an ugly woman that was not unpleasant.”

Mary Ann Bevan’s Sideshow Success
After mailing the agent a photo taken especially for the occasion, Bevan was invited to join the sideshow at Coney Island’s Dreamland amusement park, then one of the biggest locations in the world for sideshow performers. The attraction was the brainchild of Senator William H. Reynolds and promoter Samuel W. Gumpertz, one of the most prolific figures in sideshow history, and who later worked with Harry Houdini.

She was paraded alongside other notable sideshow acts including Lionel, the Lion-Faced Man, Zip the “Pinhead,” and Jean Carroll, the Tattooed Lady. Dreamland visitors were invited to gawk at the 154 pounds she carried on her 5′ 7″ frame, as well as her size 11 feet and size 25 hands. Bevan bore the humiliating treatment calmly. “Smiling mechanically, she offered picture postcards of herself for sale,” thus securing sufficient money for herself and for her children’s education.

As the years passed, Mary Ann Bevan continued to draw crowds, and even performed with the famed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show. She succeeded in her goal of providing for her children, as well: in just two years of performing in New York, she earned £20,000, roughly equivalent to $1.6 million in 2022.

The Last Days Of Mary Ann Bevan


Bevan also had friends in and out of the sideshow crowd and found time for love. While performing at Madison Square Garden in 1929, she struck up a romance with a giraffe keeper known only as Andrew. She even agreed to undergo a makeover at a New York beauty parlor, where beauticians gave her a manicure and massage, straightened her hair, and applied makeup to her face.

Some people cruelly maintained that “the rouge and powder and the rest were as out of place on Mary Ann’s countenance as lace curtains on the portholes of a dreadnought.” Mary Ann herself, however, upon seeing her reflection, simply said, “I guess I’ll be getting back to work.”

Bevan continued to work at Coney Island for her remaining years, until finally, she died at the age of 59 on Dec. 26, 1933. She was returned to her homeland for her funeral, and buried in Southeast London’s Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery.

For years, Mary Ann Bevan remained an obscure memory known only to aficionados of sideshow history until, in the early 2000s, her image was mockingly used on a Hallmark card. After objections were raised over subjecting her to further humiliation, the card was discontinued.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The stràngest marriage in the world was in the 80s, the Swiss Corina Hoffman, on a visit to Kenya 🇰🇪

The stràngest marriage in the world was in the 80s, the Swiss Corina Hoffman, on a visit to Kenya  🇰🇪  In 1986, Hofmann and her boyfriend Marco made a trip to Kenya. There, she met a Samburu warrior named Lketinga Leparmorijo and instantly found him irresistible.  She left Marco, went back to Switzerland to sell her possessions, and, in 1987, returned to Kenya, determined to find Lketinga, which she eventually did. The couple moved in together, married, and had a daughter.  Hofmann moved into her mother-in-law's manyatta (compound) and learned to live as a Samburu woman, fetching wood and water. She opened a small shop in the village, to sell basic goods. Hofmann suffered several hardships, including diseases (mainly malaria) and marital problems. Increasingly paranoid jealousy from her husband, possibly a side effect of his addiction to the d.rug khat (miraa), severely damaged her relationship, and in 1990 she decided to return to Switzerland for good, t...

THE LITTLE JEWISH GIRL WHO SURVIVE THE HOLOCAUST IN 1933

The Jewish girl who Survival the holocaust  Anny-Yolande Horowitz was a Jewish girl born on June 2, 1933 in Strasbourg, France. She and her family were interned in the Lalande camp near Tours and then transferred to Drancy before being deported on September 11, 1942 on Convoy 31 to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Unfortunately, Anny, her mother Frieda and her sister Paulette did not survive the Holocaust.   holocaust survival This photo is from "French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial" by Serge Klarsfeld. It's a huge doorstop of a book containing whatever photos and information that remain of the 11,000 French-Jewish children who were murdered by Nazis like Klaus Barbie (who Klarsfeld helped put on trial). The number of beautiful, innocent faces in this book is overwhelming. The book cost me $85 but I didn't care - I needed to remember those faces." All that is known of Anny is what is on her identification card, that she was Jewish, had blonde hair, blue eyes, ...

WHO IS THE WORST PERSON TO EVER LIVE ON THIS PLANET?

I vote for Danny Immens. I’ll describe his story, and let you decide. The boy on the left was one of his victims. Thursday, June 24, 1999. For you and me, this was a Thursday like most others. But for 12-year-old Steve Vissers, it would be his very last. And it would end in agony. (If that is the word.) Together with his younger brother, he was riding his bicycle in the park when the man hit him. His mother had forbidden them to ride beyond the bridge, but the boys had decided to go just a little further — what could go wrong, right ? And then the man had hit his bike with his scooter. Nobody was hurt, but the man insisted to drive Steve to a doctor, just in case. Steve refused — twenty years later, his brother Sven would say that it was immediately obvious that something was wrong with the man — and suddenly there was a knife, the man forced Steve on his scooter, and drove away. Steve turned his head, and waved to his brother. And then they were gone. It was the very last time that Sv...

The Painful Death Of Sergeant John D. Kelly of Venango Township. And His Medal Of Honor For Action WWII.

The Painful Death Of Sergeant John D. Kelly of Venango Township. And His Medal Of Honor For Action WWII. U.S. Army Technical Sergeant John D. Kelly of Venango Township, Pennsylvania, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on June 25, 1944, near Fort du Roule, France. Kelly joined the Army in June 1942, and by June 25th, 1944, was serving as a Corporal in Company E, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division.  On that day, at Fort du Roule, Cherbourg, France, Kelly repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire to destroy an enemy emplacement and capture its occupants. He was killed in action five months after being promoted to technical sergeant. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on this day. Kelly is buried at the Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in Epinal, France.

GINA THE TALENTED CYCLIST RESCUE HUNDRED ITALIANS DURING WWII

 Gina Rescue mission in world war 2  While he was widely admired for his athletic achievements, few knew about cyclist and two-time Tour de France winner Gino Bartali's rescue efforts during World War II.  Germany occupied Italy, its former Axis partner, in 1943. Afterward, Gino used his fame and athleticism to smuggle messages in the handlebars and seat of his bicycle for underground rescue networks.  He couriered counterfeit paperwork to Jews in hiding, enabling them to escape deportation to Auschwitz.  Gino cycled from Florence throughout much of occupied Italy, sometimes even riding as far as Rome, proudly wearing his Italian racing jersey decorated with his name. Hi hundreds of Italian Jews, then went on to win the Tour de France in 1948, ten years after his first win. Gino did not speak about what he did during the war, sharing just a few details with his son. It was only after Gino's death in 2000 that his rescue efforts became known. In 2013, Yad Vashem ...

Why Anna Maria Von Stockhausen’s corpse, strapped to keep her coming back from the dead.

Why Anna Maria Von Stockhausen’s corpse, strapped to keep her coming back from the dead.   This is the corpse of Anna Maria von Stockhausen. After death she was strapped down to keep her in her grave. According to folklore, Stockhausen was a witch who resurrected herself 5 times. She was accused of being a witch during the Middle ages and Black Plague. This folklore about Anna was that she was killed about 6 times. She was first hanged and later clawed herself out of the grave. The town people captured her in a nearby town and quickly drowned her in a lake, by tying her to a plank. The townspeople said they checked her several times after dragging her lifeless body out of the water. View more graphics content below  View more below:

THE BLIND GIRL WHO WITHNESS ATOMIC BOMB IN 1945

The girl who got blind by atomic bomb  picture of a blind Japanese girl who lost her sight due to witnessing the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The blast killed 66,000 people. Despite the atomic bombs forcing a Japanese surrender, the USA has been heavily criticized over the years for the amount of damage they caused. They also mostly k’illed civilians, who most likely had nothing to do with the war. It was also a stance against communist aggression by the USSR in Manchuria. However, if the bombs were not dropped, an invasion of Japan would have prolonged the war, and at least 2,000,000 US troops would have d’ied, according to calculations, as well as millions of the Japanese, allied fighters, and other sources of soldiers. It is easily one of the most divisive topics of World War II if the bombs should have been dropped or not. This has been only 1 out of 2 nuclear attacks in history.

Rest In Peace To RNZAF Flight Sergeant Reg Wellington Who Passed Away On 3rd November 2022

Rest in Peace to RNZAF Flight Sergeant Reg Wellington who passed away on 3rd November 2022   Reg joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force when he turned 18 in 1943. He learned to fly on Tiger Moths and Harvards before upgrading to the P-40 and then doing a conversion course on the Corsair at Ardmore. In 1944 Reg was sent to 22 squadron and deployed to the Pacific on the 19th December. On his first tour, over Kavieng at top of New Ireland, Reg and his squadron did 2 strikes a day, bombing and strafing the Japanese from their base in Emirau. They would drop bombs on the Japanese and then strafe up the enemies vegetable gardens. While in 22 squadron, Reg’s aircraft was F4U-1 Corsair NZ5339 coded '39' and in the photos above, that is actually Reg in the cockpit of No 39. He told me that he remembered dropping that 1000lbs ‘Daisy cutter’ bomb on that day. He also told me in regards to his Corsair that he “never a put scratch on her” Reg described flying the Corsair as - “Wonderful! Pu...

The native U.S Marines sent to guard the "island of Guadalcanal in 1948"

 The native U.S Marines sent to guard the "island of Guadalcanal in 1948" Native scouts leading U.S. Marines of the 1st  had established a to hold on the island of Guadalcanal, a trio of natives appeared at the mouth of the Tenaru River.  One of the individuals spoke English, and he offered their services to the Leathernecks as scouts. A tall, muscular man, he explained he had retired from the native constabulary as a sergeant major but had fled from his home when the Japanese had invaded his beloved Solomon Islands. my Realizing his value, a group of Marines quickly whisked him to the CP to be briefed. He shook the hand of division intelligence officer Lt. Col. Edmund J. Buckley and introduced himself: “I am Sergeant Major Jacob Vouza.” Native scouts were a tremendous asset to the Marines during the Guadalcanal campaign. These select men had been recruited and trained by the British for law enforcement purposes.  Together with men like Captain Martin Clemens, a coas...