Old Ashburton

                                                                      Stay-makers

Stay-maker is an obsolete term for corsetmaker, a specialist tailor.

Above: Le Corset a Travers les Ages, by Saint-Elme Gautier

Stays became a separate foundation garment from the end of the 17th century. They were 'solidly boned garments which encased the torso in something very much like armour...'

James Cure was a stay-maker in Ashburton in the late 1700s.
A transcript of trades and professions from the Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce and Manufacture, Vol 2

Nicholas Butland Boynes was baptized in February 1821, the son of George and Ebbett Boynes. George was a staymaker.

In February 1823 George Boynes was baptized, the son of George and Editha.

In the 1851 census 69 year old George Boynes was a staymaker, living in North Street. He had been born in Ashburton.

Ann Penny, the unmarried sister of William Penny, was in West Street for the 1861 census, and was a staymaker. Ann was deaf.

This is almost certainly the same Ann Penny, stay maker, who was with her parents John and Martha on the 1851 census. At the time the family were living in East Street.

In the 1881 census Charlotte Langdon, a 69 year old widow living in East Street, described herself as a Stay Maker.