Sarah Ann Jenyns
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1 March 1865
Sarah Ann Jenyns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Sarah Ann Thompson 1 March 1865 |
| Died | 29 February 1952 (aged 86) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Burial place | South Brisbane Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | trained nurse, businesswoman |
| Known for | founded the Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Co |
| Notable work | patented several corsets |
| Spouse |
Ebenezer Randolphus Jenyns
(m. 1887) |
| Children | 8 |
| Parents |
|
Sarah Ann Jenyns (1865–1952) founded the Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Co with her husband Ebenezer Randolphus Jenyns (1865–1958) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1909.[1] The business manufactured surgical instruments and pioneered surgical and aesthetic corsets for women, becoming one of the leading undergarment companies in the country and survived for more than 50 years.[2]
Sarah Ann Thompson was born on 1 March 1865 in Largs, New South Wales, to Mary Thompson, née Bluford, and her Scottish husband Charles Thompson.[3] She married Ebenezer Randolph Jenyns on 5 October 1887.[4]
Sarah, a trained nurse, married Ebenezer Randolph Jenyns, a surgical instrument maker and evangelical preacher on 5 October 1887 at the Burton Street Tabernacle, Woolloomooloo, Sydney. They settled in Brisbane in 1896. They had eight children and little money. Sarah felt a sharp pain one day when she bent over to lift a pail, and found that placing a pad inside her corset fixed the problem—except as soon as she moved, the pad dislodged and the pain returned.[4][3]
Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Co.
Sarah and Ebenezer operated a surgical instrument business from 1907. The business partnership and the marriage were both unsteady and from 1911, so Sarah opened her own business, patenting several designs in 1910–12.[5] She designed a self-lacing corset with ‘Verterbrella’, intricately woven steel ‘bones’, in the back to support the spine, and in 1910–12 patented a series of corsets and 'improved abdominal belts'.[4] The two founded the Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Co. in 1915 and registered it as a limited company in 1922.[1] Sarah built a new 3-storey facility at 327 George Street, Brisbane in 1916. In 1925 she bought into even larger premises at 309–315 George Street, eventually employing over 200 people.[5][1] By working with one of Australia’s leading surgeons she brought a scientific approach to her designs which were to win her support from medical professions in Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and from manufacturers.[5]
Sarah died on 29 February 1952 a and was buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.[1]
