Her father, James, was a Protestant, his grandfather having converted from the Catholic faith in order to retain the family estates under the Penal Laws.

Her older brother, Robert Jasper Martin, was a noted songwriter and a well-regarded member of the Tory party in London.

Her father had managed to save both his estate and his tenants during the Great Famine - boasting that not one of his people died during the disaster - but at the cost of bankruptcy.

While on friendly terms with the leading members of the Gaelic literary revival such as W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, she objected to their romantic version of Irish peasantry.

She was on good terms with Edward Martyn, partner of Gregory and Yeats - and her kinsman - and shared his love of the Irish language and culture.

Edith died at Castletownshend in October 1949, aged 91, and is buried alongside Violet Florence Martin at Saint Barrahane's Church, Castletownsend, County Cork, Ireland.