Emma Martin (socialist)

Emma Martin (née Bullock; 1811/1812 – 8 October 1851)[1] was a British writer, socialist and free thinker.

Her mother's family owned a tea dealing business in Bristol and her father was a cooper, dying when she was very young.

[1] She heard the co-operative pioneer Alexander Campbell (1796–1870) in 1839[2] and he caused her to support the socialist Owenite points of view.

There was a realistic likelihood that she could be imprisoned for blasphemy and she formed an organisation with George Jacob Holyoake to mitigate this risk.

Her atheism caused her to be denied hospital positions so she practiced independently from the family home and shop at 100 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London.

Holyoake, who had spoken at her funeral, published The Last Days of Emma Martin: Advocate of Freethought the following year.

[7] A blue plaque in Emma Martin's memory was unveiled in Bristol on 23 February 2023 on the wall of the YMCA on Bridewell Street, the site of her home in the city.