Martineau family
The Martineau family is an intellectual, business (banking, breweries, textile manufacturing)[1] and political dynasty associated first with Norwich and later also London and Birmingham, England.
[3] As Unitarian, they married into families of the same denomination, such as the Kenricks and the Chamberlains,[4] though Harriet eventually became an atheist in contrast to her brother, the religious philosopher James Martineau.
[12][13][14] Gaston's grandson, David Martineau II (1726–1768), was the third generation of master surgeons (Maître Chirurgien), and had five sons who made up the male line of Martineaus.
David and his wife were buried in St Mary the Less, Norwich (l'Église Protestante Française de Norwich) where a mural tablet commemorates his "eminence in his skill as a Surgeon" and his wife, Dame Sarah Martineau, who was "distinguished for sound judgement, warm affection and fervent piety".
[17][18][19][7][20][21][22] By the fourth generation the family was divided into Unitarians and Anglicans, the latter including Arthur Martineau (1806–1872), a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University and Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral.
By 1784, the two cousins, Philip and John, had established the Norwich City Library and the annual reunion of the Martineau and Taylor families which continued well into the 1850s.
The two men and their families accompanied Martineau's cousin John Taylor to a great banquet at Holkham Hall on the night of 5 November 1788 celebrating the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Their host was Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester who encouraged John to sing the song he had written for the occasion – The Triumph of Liberty.
[21][45][46] From the ruins of Carrow Abbey, Martineau also constructed on his estate a "small gothic priory with windows of ancient stained glass".
[48][49][50] The 1939 edition of Burke's Landed Gentry lists Thomas Martineau (1764–1826), as a "manufacturer" (textiles) and the fifth son of David Martineau II and Sarah Meadows,[51] whose siblings were Margaret (1718–1781, mother of John Taylor) and Philip Meadows (1719–1783), solicitor and Lord of the Manor of Diss, Norfolk.
On 13 January 1855, the Examiner reported that the siblings' "collateral ancestor was Sir Philip Meadows, the ambassador of Oliver Cromwell".
[52][53][54][55] Thomas grew up in Norwich, attending family friend Mrs Barbauld's school, the Palgrave Academy in Suffolk.
Thomas Martineau and his first cousin John Taylor were deacons of Norwich's Unitarian church, the Octagon Chapel.
Joseph John Gurney later lived at Bracondale Hall, once the home of Thomas' brother, Philip Meadows Martineau.
[66][67][68][69][70][excessive citations] It was at Thomas's home – "commemoratively known as Martineau House" – that literary illustrissimo including Amelia Opie and Anna Letitia Barbauld were entertained.
[80][page needed] He hired John Barnsley to build a mansion in Edgbaston, with a large wing for his mother, who lived there till her death in 1848, and another for his own family.
He was a guest teacher in Liverpool, where his sister, Rachel (1800–1876), ran a private girls' school which was attended by Elizabeth Gaskell's daughters.
Their daughter, Clara Martineau, became the third woman to serve as a councillor on the Birmingham City Council, representing Edgbaston for 19 years.
[88] Joseph Chamberlain was then the leader of the Liberal Unionists, and with his assistance Sir Thomas was instrumental in getting the Welsh Water Bill through Parliament and getting Birmingham made an assizes town.
[96][97][98] Sir Thomas Martineau died on 28 July 1893 and is buried alongside his family at Key Hill Cemetery.
[99] Colonel Ernest Martineau (1861–1952), son of Sir Thomas, was Lord Mayor of Birmingham between 1912 and 1914; his first cousin, Neville Chamberlain, replacing him in this role in 1915.
[100][101][102] Robert Francis (16 May 1831 – 15 December 1909), brother of Sir Thomas, was an alderman, secretary of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, chairman of the Technical School committee and trustee to Mason Science College which was attended by Philip Edgar Martineau (1859–1939), a founder of the Assistant Masters' Association and the son of Robert's second cousin, Francis Edgar Martineau (1828–1893).
Sir William had previously studied at Uppingham and Maurice at Eton which his son, John Edmund Martineau, also attended.
[116][117][118][119][120][121][excessive citations] The intermarried Martineau and Lupton clan counted many aldermen and lord mayors, in both Birmingham and Leeds respectively, amongst their kin.
[122][123] International issues were also of great concern to the family; Robert Francis Martineau welcomed the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to his home when the American visited Birmingham on 7 July 1877 and two days later, Martineau's relative, Joseph Lupton, had Garrison as a guest at his Leeds house from 9–15 July.
