Roxey Ann Caplin (c. 1793 – 2 August 1888) was a British writer and inventor.

Biography

She was born in about 1793 in British North America. Around 1835, she married Jean Francois Isidore Caplin (c.1790-c.1872). From 1839, Caplin was a corsetmaker working at 58 Berners Street, London. At the Great Exhibition in 1851, she was awarded the prize medal of "Manufacturer, Designer and Inventor" for her corsetry designs. The corsets from the Great Exhibition in 1851 are in the Museum of London. In 1860, she became a member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA). By 1864, she had filed 24 patents. She died on 2 August 1888 at Cambridge Lodge, St Leonard's East Sheen in Surrey. Her effects were valued at £6452, a considerable estate for a tradesman in this period.

Madame Caplin

How shall the poet, in a single lay, the glory of her age and time portray? Suffice if for the wondering world to mark She took from all beside the medal in Hyde Park; The only prize that was for corsets given to any manufacturer under heaven. Lo! the dazzling splendours of her fame advance O'er 'All England' and the whole of France She, the beloved, who now fills Brunswick's throne Deals with Madame Caplin – her alone; Why need I paint the heroine of my lays, Or tell the land where passed her virgin days; 'Twas Canada!'-above all colonies renowned— that heard my heroine's praises first resound, You'll an incarnation of the graces meet at No. 58 in Berners Street. Science and pure benevolence combined, A deity in human form enshrined; Gracious demeanour, and courtly mien, Learning and worth are thine, great Native queen.

Selected works

Sources