Sarah Biffin -The Limbless Wonder
Sarah Biffin was born in Somerset in 1784 without arms or legs. Despite this enormous disadvantage, and the fact that her parents were poor, Sarah went on to become a famous artist of the day.
Sarah Biffin's condition is known as phocomelia and is similar to the effects of thalidomide. Children born with such disabilities were not particularly rare and it was blamed on their mother having received a severe fright during pregnancy.
In spite of her handicap, her lack of height - fully grown she was only three feet tall - and her health, which was never very robust, she proved to be clever, talented and very determined.
At the age of ten her parents, simple labouring people, allowed her to leave their home and live with the Duke family who ran a travelling fair. They promoted her as The Limbless Wonder, and The Astonishing Curiosity and Sarah made a living with them by showing how she could write, paint and sew to a high standard by using her mouth.
She specialised in miniatures and was so obviously gifted that she undertook professional training and later received recognition for her work by The Society of Arts and the Royal Academy. She became so well–known that Charles Dickens mentioned her in several of his books.
She married and some of her work was sold under her married name of Mrs. E M.Wright but in this venture she was less successful and the marriage only lasted a year. However, her paintings continued to be sought after and she gained the patronage of the Earl of Morton and sold to several members of the aristocracy.
She died in 1850 at the age of 66 and was buried in Liverpool.
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