Ethel Granger - Smallest Waist
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Ethel Granger - Smallest Waist
Updated Mar 10, 2025
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Daniel Pinna
204 followers 10.4k+ favorites
11/16/2015
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AncientFaces
380k+ followers 411 favorites
10/28/2019
13 inch waist and lots of piercings - she was born in 1905 and this 1950s photo with all the piercings show elements of "then and now".
Mae Martin
Daniel Pinna
204 followers 10.4k+ favorites
01/22/2016
I still get shocked every time I see this photo.
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AncientFaces I think you MEANT her waist & piercings were to please her husband. As written it implies she died to please him.😏
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Thilo von Bogen Yes, you're right - I did. And I changed it. Pleading brain fog because of all the smoke here! :)
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AncientFaces brain fog is ok, it's the brain farts that do me in😂
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Sharon Durfee - this was the best pic I could find: William A. Granger They had one daughter
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Yea.... if she did it for herself..., it’s not my thing but whatever. But if you have to change yourself to make someone else love you, then is it really YOU they love?
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After he died she stopped for a time but started corseting again if a few inches looser for herself.
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Debra Mandich At that point, I imagine she needed the corset since she would have absolutely destroyed her midsection. Her organs would be all messed up and she’d have gone years without needing to use her abdominal muscles.
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Debra Mandich I imagine she needed the corset for support at that point.
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That's actually possible!?!?
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Carol Piquard Compton Weir . May have removed a few ribs.
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Kathy Peebles Finney yes, I believe you are right.
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Rib removal wasn't really a thing until very recently. Also, it's pointless. The ribs effected by corsets are floating ribs, and can move. They move when you take breaths.
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I've seen this picture before. I find it very disturbing.
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Lisa Vicki agree also..form of abuse from husband ?
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Sara Pardo nope. Despite the drawings of ladies with displaced organs, according to modern medicine, tightlacing causes no more organ displacement than pregnancy. Don’t forget that she’ll have been pretty dainty to begin with.
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Lucy Sharkey Hmmmm...after pregnancy your organs go back to where they should be! This case...not a chance, not ever.
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Lucy Sharkey here's what surgeons said
Women were often laced so tightly their breathing was restricted leading to faintness. Compressing the abdominal organs could cause poor digestion and over time the back muscles could atrophy. In fact, long term tight lacing led to the rib cage becoming deformed.
Feb 17, 2017
Royal College of Surgeons
Women were often laced so tightly their breathing was restricted leading to faintness. Compressing the abdominal organs could cause poor digestion and over time the back muscles could atrophy. In fact, long term tight lacing led to the rib cage becoming deformed.
Feb 17, 2017
Royal College of Surgeons
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Once you realize there's a spine and intestines and kidneys being smashed in that corset, there is also passing in that tiny space a massive blood vessel, the vena cava which is connected to her lower organs and legs.... One wonders how she survived.
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Susan McDermott Knight the kidneys are more under the ribs. The intestines are pushed way out of place.
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Susan McDermott Knight - the vena cava returns deoxygenated blood from the lower extremities to the heart. The aorta (largest blood vessel of the body) carries oxygenated blood from the heart to the arterial system and comes down through the abdomen before dividing into multiple branches. Your knowledge of human anatomy is a bit off.
via Facebook
Wander what he did for her to make her happy? Now thats the question...
Donna Faul
8 favorites
10/28/2019
Her husband wanted her to get her waist smaller- hmm I would of told him to kiss my a... and he could leave
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I was told my step-great grandmother was so proud because her husband could touch fingers around her waist it was so small. Of course then she died in child-birth having her 1st child and I have often wondered if the small waist had anything to do with it.
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I do not think that is what caused her to die in childbirth. The standard of beauty at that time was the ideal that the husband could put his hands around a lady's waist and it was not uncommon. Women were tiny back then.
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Vallerie Fletcher Are there stats that back that up, or do we just not see a lot of pictures of fat ladies of the past?
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Small women had small waists and hips. Childbearing wasn't always easy back then anyway.
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Caroline Gaston there must be more than a few. I own their previous dresses lol a lot of them as well - I’m 5ft 11 and 38-32-38 measurements, never had to have any tailored.
Elysa Mintz
6 favorites
10/28/2019
Linda Sherwood Brundage she was 77 years oldat the time of her death .
Could have been an other women.
Could have been an other women.
Ree Young
1 follower 234 favorites
10/28/2019
Caroline Gaston In Victoria times, being skinny was taken as an indication of being poor and not in good health. The wealthier people had no shortage of food, and a lot of it was lacking in nutrition and full of animal fat. Vegetables were available in the upper middle classes and higher, but they were generally cooked with lots of butter and/or heavy cream sauces. Pie crusts were made with lard and filled with thick gravies or lots of sugary fillings. Being able to afford white bread flour (which was not fortified as it is now) and using a lot of sugar, which was a status symbol , though was bad for the health. Many had heart problems, diabetes, and "the rich man's disease"...gout.
As far as women being tiny...the average man and woman were shorter than they are now. A good deal of that was due to poor nutrition during childhood. My maternal grandmother (born in 1874) was only 4 feet 8 inches tall. When she got married, she was the same size that I was when I was 12! I know this because that was how old I was the last time her wedding blouse would fit me! Amd my own mother was only 5 feet 2 inches tall.
My paternal grandmother was just at 5 feet tall and my grandfather was 5 feet 3 inches. My dad made it to 5 feet 5 inches, which was close to average for a man back then (he was born in 1902). I grew to be taller than either of my parents!
Being that much shorter meant a woman's bone structure was smaller than it is now...smaller waists, shoulders, overall smaller frame. And a very slender waist was considered beautiful and sexy, so even women with normal waists wore tight corsets to look even smaller. All in the name of beauty and attracting a man!
As far as women being tiny...the average man and woman were shorter than they are now. A good deal of that was due to poor nutrition during childhood. My maternal grandmother (born in 1874) was only 4 feet 8 inches tall. When she got married, she was the same size that I was when I was 12! I know this because that was how old I was the last time her wedding blouse would fit me! Amd my own mother was only 5 feet 2 inches tall.
My paternal grandmother was just at 5 feet tall and my grandfather was 5 feet 3 inches. My dad made it to 5 feet 5 inches, which was close to average for a man back then (he was born in 1902). I grew to be taller than either of my parents!
Being that much shorter meant a woman's bone structure was smaller than it is now...smaller waists, shoulders, overall smaller frame. And a very slender waist was considered beautiful and sexy, so even women with normal waists wore tight corsets to look even smaller. All in the name of beauty and attracting a man!
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Vallerie Fletcher if you look at photos, that's really not all that common. It might have been an ideal, but it was an ideal seldom achieved. Most women were fairly normally proportioned if smaller in stature than they are now. Tight lacing was only done by a very few women who didnt need to breathe deeply, i.e. the wealthy who were also fairly thin.
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Did she have children of her own? Just wondering...
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She and her husband had one daughter. Their daughter was found 3 weeks after she died (at age 71) in her home. I read that she was a hoarder and a recluse. The mortuary crew had to wear Hazmat gear. :(
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AncientFaces Hazmat gear? Her orders or was she contagious with something?
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It was the style to have a tiny waist
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Dorothy Irene Sheridan that shape was absolutely not in style even for a minute during this woman's adulthood.
In the 1860s, sure, kinda, but it was mostly seen in drawings (which were always idealized and stylized) and virtually never aspired for in real life.
In the 1860s, sure, kinda, but it was mostly seen in drawings (which were always idealized and stylized) and virtually never aspired for in real life.
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Dorothy Irene Sheridan Yes, watch movies from the 30s and 40s. Tiny tiny waists. A lot of synching going on!
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She must have had all those piercings to take the pain away from being squeezed by that 13” corset.
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Brenda Anderson or being married to her husband...🥴
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Muskan Parashar they do if they are cinched to tightly.
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Muskan Parashar all her internal organs are pushed out of place. There's nothing there but spinal column and a little muscle. You can't seriously think that isn't painful.
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I wear corsets. They literally feel like a hug. Reductions like this happen slowly over the course of years or decades. Organs are meant to move around. What do you think happens during pregnancy?
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As a pregnant lady, I can tell you my organs slowly shifting is not pleasant. I definitely get pains. Can't imagine how painful out would be to have them move on the scale in this picture. Not natural at all
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Her shape is literally like an hour glass.
Tracy Thurman
89 favorites
10/28/2019
When my Mom married my Dad her waist was 18" ;)
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Her waist is an illusion.. the white and black coloring in the photo makes her waist look so small.
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Dolores Drury its real, another woman is in the Guinness records for a waste the size of a music cd. No illusions made them
Ree Young
1 follower 234 favorites
10/28/2019
Nope, no illusion. The current Guinness World Record holder for the living woman with the smallest waist is Cathie Jung...15 inch waist. She's worn corsets and waist trainers for many decades. She lives here in NC...and she is now 81 years old.
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Diane Wollenberg he certainly was into torture.
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Wearing a corset is NOT a "torture device".
I wear one on a daily basis; that being said, I don't tight lace to this extreme.
The first thing in wearing a corset to consider is that if you are in pain, or cannot breathe, then there is something VERY WRONG.
Most people don't go to this extreme of tight lacing.
What I wonder about is the multitude of piercings "to please her husband"... the corset I can understand, though 13 inches is too much, in my opinion.
For the record, no, I don't wear my corsets for any man.
I wear them for myself, in the same manner I wear lipstick, style my hair, and do my nails: I have self respect, both for myself, and for those around me.
I wear one on a daily basis; that being said, I don't tight lace to this extreme.
The first thing in wearing a corset to consider is that if you are in pain, or cannot breathe, then there is something VERY WRONG.
Most people don't go to this extreme of tight lacing.
What I wonder about is the multitude of piercings "to please her husband"... the corset I can understand, though 13 inches is too much, in my opinion.
For the record, no, I don't wear my corsets for any man.
I wear them for myself, in the same manner I wear lipstick, style my hair, and do my nails: I have self respect, both for myself, and for those around me.
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Vesuvia Vulcania Nox corsets are cool but her waist size not!
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Ember Elle I agree with you.
I heard of 13" waist size several years ago.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to see how small that was, with my tape measure.
Suffice it to say, when I put the end on the 13" mark, I nearly threw up.
I heard of 13" waist size several years ago.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to see how small that was, with my tape measure.
Suffice it to say, when I put the end on the 13" mark, I nearly threw up.
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Vesuvia Vulcania Nox looks like torture to me and so does all that heavy jewelry hanging down. If a person really had a nice waist why wear a corset.
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some people wear corsets because they like the extra support and to keep a nice waist. i've worn corsets for certain outfits.
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Vesuvia Vulcania Nox , you sound healthy to me. I’m not sure about anyone who would go to the extreme. And it looks so unhealthy and unattractive. It reminds me of someone who is anorexic. They see fat no matter how skinny. It’s an illness.
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Cinching someone in past the point of normal human anatomy is absolutely torture.
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She should have got a new husband. This is awful
Carl Horowitz
17 favorites
04/17/2022
But she loved him. Her memoirs said as much.
Elizabeth Davis
39 favorites
10/28/2019
Love me, love my tummy ♥️ or do without me!
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My Body aches just looking at the poor woman! So thankful I did not live an an era of corsets! I can’t even handle spanx!
Paula Rodrigues
via Facebook
I remember reading about her in the 1960s. The article said she died due to causes of a too tight corset.
Carl Horowitz
17 favorites
04/17/2022
Actually, she died in 1982. And her death had nothing whatsoever to do with her tightlacing. The article is what was fake.
Carl Horowitz
17 favorites
04/17/2022
I can assure you, there is no photoshopping here. That 13-inch waist has been verified many times, often by live footage long predating CGI.
Erica Bell
14 favorites
03/06/2022
I love her piercings and the coordination of her jewlery.
Carl Horowitz
17 favorites
04/17/2022
There is no CGI involved here. Her waist was very real.
Cathy Anderson
21 favorites
04/06/2024
Wow that waist line must of really messed up her internal organs ? She must of bound herself for decades to get this freakish look ! Reminds me of the ancient practice in China where they bound women’s feet to be tiny feet ! Can you imagine the pain
People tagged in this photo
Ethel Granger is best known for having obtained the smallest waist size in recent history measuring in at 36-13-39. She was the Guinness Book of Records holder until Guinness changed the category to "Woman alive with the smallest waist" in 1998. She began her exploration into corsets, with a waste size of 23 inches, to appease her husband's desire. Her husband, astronomer William Arnold Granger, gradually bought smaller and smaller corsets asking her to wear them 24 hours a day until she reached her final size.
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My father's side is full blood Sicilian and my mother's side is a combination of Welsh, Scottish, German and a few other European cultures. One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) family members came over on the Mayflower. He was among the first to be hanged in the New World for a criminal offense he made while onboard the ship.
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One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) relatives was one of the first to be hanged for criminal punishment in the U.S.
One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) relatives was one of the first to be hanged for criminal punishment in the U.S.
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