Mary Bettans
Mary Farnan Bettans (c. 1788 – 29 January 1859) was an English dressmaker. She was the official royal dressmaker of Queen Victoria and notably designed her iconic wedding dress in 1840.
Life[edit]
Bettans was born in Southwark, Surrey.[1] In 1817, she married Samuel Bettans at St Martin-in-the-Fields.[2]
Mary Bettans had her establishment at 84 Jermyn Street in London. In 1841, her business was described as a "well conducted establishment" with journeywomen, in-door apprentices and improvers.[3]
Bettans had a long association with Victoria, making mourning clothes for her on the death of her father in 1820,[4] as well as her wedding dress twenty years later.[5] In the 1846 official calendar, Elizabeth Johnston had the title "Dress Maker Extraordinary" while Mary Bettans was called "Court Dress and Dress Maker".[6] They were not the queen's only dressmaker, as she was also known to be the client of the House of Creed as well as John Redfern.[7]
She died in 1859 at Forty Hill, Enfield, aged 71.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ 1851 England Census
- ^ Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935
- ^ Manufactories, Great Britain Commissioners for Inquiring into the Employment and Condition of Children in Mines and (1842). Appendix to the Second Report of the Commissioners: Trades and Manufactures, Reports and Evidence from Sub-Commissioners. William Clowes and Sons.
- ^ Murphy, Deirdre (2019). The Young Victoria. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780300238877.
- ^ Timms, Elizabeth Jane (10 February 2019). "Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress". Royal Central.
- ^ The British Imperial Calendar, on General Register of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Its Colonies (etc.). Arthur Varenham. 1843.
- ^ Tierney, Tom (1987). Great Fashion Designs of the Victorian Era Paper Dolls in Full Color. New York: Dover Publications. p. 17. ISBN 0-486-25527-1.
- ^ "Deaths". Morning Post. 3 February 1859. p. 8. Retrieved 23 November 2023.