Author: Martin, Sarah Catherine
Biography:
MARTIN, Sarah Catherine (c. 1768-1826: ancestry.com)
Though her birthdate is usually given as 1768, no record of her birth or baptism has been found and the record of burial of 1826 gives her age at death as 60. Her parents, Henry Martin (1733-94), a naval officer, and the widow Eliza Anne (Parker) Gillman (1735-1808), had married in Ireland in 1761 and she was most probably Irish by birth like her mother and at least three of her siblings. The family lived mainly at their Bishopstown farm, near Cork, before moving to Bath in 1770. Her father was later resident naval commissioner at Portsmouth (1780), then Comptroller of the Navy and MP for Southampton (1790), and became the first baronet Martin of Lockynge in 1791. His parents had slave-owning estates in Antigua and he inherited one of the plantations in 1788, but at his death in 1794 he left debts of over £20,000. Sarah Catherine Martin drew on a traditional nursery rhyme for her wildly popular version of "Old Mother Hubbard"--written originally to entertain the household of her sister at Kitley, Devonshire. Her Comic Adventures was published anonymously in 1805 but the dedication of the first edition is signed "S. M. C." (corrected to S. C. M. in later editions). Though there was once some doubt about the attribution, it has been confirmed by the discovery of an original manuscript. She never married, though the future William IV was an early suitor. She was buried alongside her parents in the churchyard of St. Nicholas's church in Loughton, Essex, on 30 Dec. 1826. (ancestry.com 17 Mar. 2020, 6 Jan. 2026; findagrave.com 6 Jan. 2026; findmypast.com 6 Jan. 2026; LBS 6 Jan. 2026; "Sir Henry Martin" Wikipedia 6 Jan. 2026; Opie; OCCL) HJ
Other Names:
- C. S. M.
- S. C. Martin
- S. M. C.