Often known not just as the ugliest woman ever, but also as the ugliest person in the world of all time, the tragic tale of Mary Ann Bevan will hopefully inspire you to be kinder with your words while showcasing the heartbreaking nature beyond her story.
Behind the cruel labels, we will reveal how a mother transformed a negative into a positive and overcame unfathomable obstacles, with her young children serving as the driving force behind her pragmatic decisions.
A Beautiful Beginning: Mary Ann Bevan’s Early Life
Mary Ann Webster was born in Plaistow, London, on 20 December 1887 into a working-class family. She was one of eight children and spent the early part of her working life working in the caring stable employment of nursing, a noble and respected profession.
During her early life, she was considered an objectively attractive brunette for anyone and any time period’s standards, as you can see here:
Love and Family Life Before Tragedy Struck
In 1903, Mary married Thomas Bevan, a local florist. They fell in love instantly, and by early 1910, they had four children.
In 1914, Thomas died suddenly of an aggressive stroke, leaving Mary Ann alone to support her family.
Being known as the ugliest person ever is a cruel joke, and life was in on the not-so-funny gag. Not only had it taken away the love of her life and the father of her children, but the world had seemingly already begun to be out to get Mary Ann.
You see, her lifestyle had already changed drastically since 1906, when she had been suffering from the onset of a disease called acromegaly for years. This had worsened, resulting in her giving up nursing due to her condition.
A Cruel Twist of The Onset of Acromegaly
Acromegaly is a disease that affects only six out of a million people. Usually, it starts with a benign tumor of the pituitary gland in the brain, which is caused by overproduction of growth hormones.
When a person reaches adulthood, their growth plates typically start to close; however, with acromegaly, growth continues. Symptoms are enlargement and distortion of the feet, hands and face.
The voice deepens. And there is awful joint pain. If treated today, it does not impact life expectancy, and surgery is available to remove the tumor, but as it requires invasive brain surgery, it is not a preferred treatment.
A Widow’s Struggle-Providing for her Children
Mary’s appearance made finding work very difficult at the time, and as she was left to raise her children alone, she decided to improve her financial situation. To capitalize on her situation, she entered a competition for the ugliest woman in the world and won!
A practical, yet painful response to yet another traumatic life event, Mary Ann had no time to waste, and she dove even deeper into this weird world.
From Nurse To Side Show Performer: Painful But Pragmatic
Claude Bartram, an agent for Coney Island side show performers in the United States of America saw her photograph and contacted her, offering Mary Ann £10 a week for a year, which was a considerable sum in those days, to work for him, including travel expenses and any additional monies from postcards sold with her image, and just like that… the ugliest person ever was born.
Exploited Yet Empowered: The Tragic Paradox of Mary Ann Bevan
Mary Ann started working at the Barnham and Bailey Circus, which merged with Ringling Brothers Circus and was called The Greatest Show on Earth.
In the early 1900s, there were few options for women obtaining secure employment, especially those with a disability, let alone a widow!
Sights of a circus were the norm. Individuals were paraded for people’s enjoyment, for example, sufferers of dwarfism, conjoined twins, or an albino person who was back then considered an oddity, as opposed to a human being with a disability and a beating heart in their chest, just like the rest of us.
While working with “The Greatest Show on Earth”, she quickly became popular, and many national newspapers described her as the ugliest woman in the world.
At the height of her fame, she was featured in Time Magazine. It was suggested that they dress her in men’s clothes to make her more masculine, emphasizing the damage the disease had taken, more financial gain for the Ringling brothers and even more humiliation for Mary Ann.
Alas, she turned a situation she had no control over into one where she did, and by 1923, she earned $20k by 1923 (equivalent to a quarter of a million in today’s money), which she used to send her children to a New York boarding school!
Coping with Pain, Alcoholism and Public Ridicule
Mary Ann died in 1933 on the 26th December, aged just 59, and was laid to rest in Lewisham, England.
A drinking problem might have exacerbated her demise, no doubt brought on by a lifetime of exploitation, sitting night after night feeling humiliated and degraded as the butt of people’s jokes and hard-knock life by anyone’s measuring stick.
The Hallmark Controversy: A Tackless and Timless Insult
Over a century after Mary Ann was put on exhibition, the sounds of “roll up, roll up” are emulated by Hallmark greeting cards. Dr Harold F Klawans, working in Rotterdam and an expert in the field of Mary Anne’s illness, was in the UK for work when he spotted a card for sale in London in 2006, making fun of Mary Ann.
He wrote to Hallmark saying it was degrading, disrespectful and highly unacceptable behaviour, rightly pointing out that bullying is defined as an intention to harm, cause pain and distress, and that this card would do just that to anyone else suffering from the disease.
He went on to inform them how Mary Ann has become a mockery in life, and thanks to them, is now also being laughed at in death.
Hallmark agreed to stop producing more cards but kept the existing cards on sale, allowing Mary Ann’s lifetime of exploitation to continue.
Ugliest Person in the World: Or The Most Beautiful of Souls?
In today’s politically correct society, she would be correctly described as a woman with tenacity, resilience and determination; however, at that time, she was seen as only the greatest showwoman, as she endured dehumanizing treatment and an alarming lack of sympathy back then, along with knowledge of this condition being limited.
We can today take a leaf out of her book, as it is so easy to dismiss things and say they can’t be done when the chips are down. However, in Mary Ann’s case, we see that it can be done simply because it had to be done.
With terms being thrown around like ugliest woman ever and whatnot, the ugliest person ever was more than likely the person in the room with Mary Ann whenever she was exploited or mocked and laughed at for her physical demise.