Daughter of Charles Herbert Warren, whose family had migrated to SA from Scotland, and his wife Alice (Downer). They lived in the house 'Grove Lodge' in Gilles St, Adelaide, and she and her sister went to a school conducted by a Mrs Chapman in a small house in Halifax St.
Soon after 1900 they moved to 'Elgin' in College Park. While living here she was horrified to see the conditions in which some of the poor children in Park St, in the east end of town, lived, and she and her sister saved money to buy toys for them, and invited them to a Christmas party at their home. This was the beginning of her dedication to working for charities. At this time the girls went to school at Dryburgh House, College Park, and Jean later attended 'The Hermitage', Geelong Girls' Grammar School. She studied English at the University of Adelaide, and learnt the violin at the Conservatorium. She became the second wife of J Lavington Bonython, then Mayor of Adelaide, whom she married in 1912 when she was 21. They had three children of their own in addition to Sir Lavington's three children from his first marriage. They lived their married life in 'Carhayes', Wakefield St and 'St Corantyn', East Tce, Adelaide.
After her husband's death in 1960 she lived for 10 years in their summer home, 'Eurilla', at Mt Lofty. She devoted a lifetime of service to charitable works, and when she was awarded the OBE in 1954 her citation read, 'Lady Bonython is one of the most capable and conscientious charitable workers in the state'. Particularly concerned with child welfare, she was at one stage on 30 Adelaide committees, including the Mothers and Babies Health Association, of which she was a life member and President from 1953 to 1965, and the Kindergarten Union of South Australia. Well-known herself for her flower arrangements, she organized the first Flower Day in Adelaide in 1936 during the Centenary celebrations. She worked energetically for the Royal District and Bush Nursing Society and the RSPCA. She suffered a stroke in 1970, and died in 1977 after a long illness.
