Mary Ann Bevan

Mary Ann Bevan ( Webster; 20 December 1874 – 26 December 1933) was an English nurse and sideshow performer. After developing acromegaly, she became internationally known in the 1920s and 1930s for being exhibited as "the ugliest woman in the world" in American sideshows. At the age of 22, Webster became a nurse. The couple had four children together. After winning the "Ugliest Woman" contest, she travelled to the United States to earn a living for her family. She spent much of the remainder of her life performing at Dreamland.

Later in her career, Bevan appeared with the Ringling Brothers Circus, where she was employed as both a sideshow performer and a nurse.

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.