Skip to main content

Author: Martin, William

Biography:

MARTIN, William (1772-1851: ODNB)

A notable eccentric and inventor, William Martin was baptised on 21 June 1772 at Haltwhistle, Northumberland, the eldest son of William Fenwick (“Fenwick”) Martin and his wife Isabella Thompson, a farmer’s daughter. The artist John Martin (1789-1854) was his youngest brother. Their father had various trades—tanner, coach builder, publican, fencing master—and William spent his early years with his grandparents but by 1782 was reunited with his family in Newcastle. He became a capable mechanic and was employed in rope-making; he also served, off and on, in the Northumberland militia. His inventions included improvements to shoes, a perpetual motion machine, and a spring weighing machine for which he won the Isis Medal of the Society of Arts in 1814. On 23 July 1814 he married Elizabeth Wright at St. Peter, Wallsend. It is not clear whether they had children or not: four children baptised at Gosforth, Newcastle, between 1824 and 1831 had parents with their names, but that was most probably a different couple. In an autobiographical memoir published after her death in 1832, A Short Outline of the Philosopher’s Life (1833), he describes his wife as a “a celebrated dressmaker.” With the support of her earnings he was able to spend more time publicising his ideas about science and natural philosophy in opposition to the prevailing Newtonianism. He founded a Martinean Society and lectured around the country against the “false philosophers” outside his creed. In 1849 he moved to London to live with his brother John, in whose house at Chelsea he died on 9 Feb. 1851. (ODNB 2 Apr. 2023; findmypast.com 2 Apr. 2023; Gateshead Observer 15 Feb. 1851)

 

Other Names:

  • Wm. Martin
 

Books written (3):