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Mary in business
cuts quite a dash
uses her head
and makes lots of cash
..... MARY REIBEY was an Australian businesswoman who was born in Bury in Lancashire in 1777. Her grandparents brought her up after her parents died when she was a child but at the age of 13 she was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for stealing a horse. When she arrived in Sydney in 1792 she was sent as nursemaid to the family of Major Francis Grose and two years later married Thomas Reibey, an Irishman. They had seven children. He became a prosperous trader in grain and then general imports. Mary kept a hotel, looked after the children and ran her husband's business when he was away. When he died in 1811 she took over his business and opened new warehouses, bought more ships, invested in property and was soon accepted as a leader of society in Sydney. In 1820 she made a return visit to Lancashire and was treated like royalty. In the late 1820s Mary concentrated on her city properties and new building ventures in Sydney and became a noted philanthropist and religious worker. Her three sons took over the business when she retired and they themselves became prosperous merchants. She died in 1855
..... MARY QUANT was a successful businesswoman in the 1960s when her influence of the fashion scene contributed to the swinging Britain era. She was internationally famous for her brightly coloured casual clothes and of course her name is synonymous with the mini-skirt. She was born in 1934 in London, studied at Goldsmith's College of Art and opened her first boutique in 1955 in Chelsea. In 1957 she married Alexander Plunket-Green, one of her partners and in 1965 had her first American show. For helping to make London a centre of fashion she was awarded the OBE in 1966. By this time she was producing about 20 collections per year and received many other awards. In 1971 she was made a member of the Design Council, in 1973 an adviser to the British-American Bi-Centennial Liaison Committee and from 1976 to 1978 was a consultant to the Victoria and Albert Museum. From clothes she moved to cosmetics and built up a huge franchise business which eventually became part of the Max Factor empire. She also gave her name to household textiles, linen and interior decorations