Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
Sarah Biffen (1784 – 2 October 1850), also known as Biffin, Beffin, or by her married name Mrs E.M. Wright, was a Victorian English painter born with no arms and only vestigial legs. She was 94 cm (37 in) tall. She was born in 1784 in Somerset. Despite her handicap she learned to read, and to write and paint using her mouth. She was apprenticed to a man named Dukes who exhibited her as an attraction throughout England. In the St. Bartholomew's Fair of 1808, she came to the attention of George Douglas, the Earl of Morton who then went on to sponsor her to receive lessons from a Royal Academy of Arts painter, William Craig. The Society of Arts awarded her a medal in 1821 for a historical miniature and the Royal Academy accepted her paintings. The Royal Family commissioned her to paint miniature portraits of them. When the Earl of Morton died in 1827, Biffen was left without a noble sponsor and she ran into financial trouble. Queen Victoria awarded her a Civil List pension and she retired to a private life in Liverpool. Some years later she married and 12 years later tried to renew her success with the name Mrs. Wright but this was not successful. She died on 2 October 1850 at the age of 66.

1850Oct, 2
Sarah Biffen
Choose Another Date
Events on 1850
- 29Jan
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress. - 7Mar
Compromise of 1850
Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war. - 29Jun
Church of Greece
Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece. - 18Sep
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. - 29Sep
Universalis Ecclesiae
The papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae restores the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales.