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Author: Madan, Martin

Biography:

MADAN, Martin (1725-90: ODNB)

The first of eight sons of Col. Martin Madan and his wife Judith (Cowper) Madan (q.v.), he was born in London on 5 Oct. 1825 and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (matric. 1743, BA 1746). He then studied law at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in 1748 but gave up the law in order to become a clergyman—it is said, following the experience of hearing John Wesley (q.v.) preach. CCEd records his ordination as deacon (June 1757) and priest (Sept. 1757) but he was apparently preaching before then. Appointed one of the private chaplains of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon (1761-72) and, notably, chaplain of the Lock Chapel for penitent prostitutes in London, he became a celebrated preacher on the Calvinist evangelical wing of the established church. On 17 Dec. 1751 he married Jane Hale, with whom he had five children. His personal fortunes increased markedly on the death of his father in 1756: as the eldest son he inherited estates in St. Kitts and Nevis, WI, to which he added both land and slaves in the course of his lifetime, and which he bequeathed to his wife Jane. Among his written works he is best known as editor of a collection of hymns (1760) that proved very popular, and as author of Thelyphthora (1780)—a treatise arguing for polygamy as a solution to the problems of extramarital sex and prostitution--that caused such an uproar that it led to his resignation from the Lock Chapel in 1781 and his retirement to Woodcut House, Epsom, where he prepared his final publication, the translation of Juvenal and Persius listed here. He died there “after a short illness” on 2 May 1790. (ODNB 17 Feb. 2023; findmypast.com 17 Feb. 2023; LBS 17 Feb. 2023; CCEd 17 Feb. 2023)

 

Other Names:

  • Mr. Madan
 

Books written (2):

[Epsom?]: [no publisher], 1784