Emma Martin (socialist)

Emma Martin
Emma Martin
Born	Emma Bullock; 1811/1812; Bristol, England
Died	8 October 1851; Finchley Common, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Author, activist
Spouse(s)	Isaac Luther Martin

Emma Martin (née Bullock; 1811/1812 – 8 October 1851) was a British author, socialist and free thinker. She is known for her public speaking on behalf of socialism and Owenism.

Life

Emma Bullock was born in Bristol and after the death of her father she moved to Clifton with her mother and stepfather. At seventeen, she joined the radical Particular Baptists. She later married Isaac Luther Martin and together they had three daughters.

He was, however, 'a husband … whose company it was a humiliation to endure' (Holyoake, 4), and in the years after their marriage, despite all her religious and educational activities, Emma Martin became miserable and restless.[1]

She heard Alexander Campbell (1796-1870) in 1839 and he caused her to support the socialist Owenite points of view.[2] At the time Campbell, was known as Robert Owen's "principal Scottish disciple".[3] However, Martin rejected the socialist view that religion was not important. Martin challenged this idea and used her own beliefs to challenge the secular approach. However, it was Martin who was eventually persuaded.[1]

Owenite

Martin left her husband and rejected his faith, instead taking up the Owenite cause. In 1840, she was in discussions with James Pierrepont Greaves who was trying to make Owenism less secular.[2] By 1841, she was addressing the Owenite annual conference where her views on women's rights were received. She spoke of the freedom that Socialism might bring women by giving them financial independence.[1]

Martin was touring the country and speaking publicly to thousands. She had to leave her daughters with friends and this must have put a strain on her financially.[1] Martin was stoned by opponents and she could find crowds that were either attracted or there to object to her atheism. There was a realistic likelihood that she could be imprisoned for blasphemy and she formed an organisation with George Jacob Holyoake to mitigate this risk.[1] However, she was taken to court, but unlike Holyoake, she was never convicted.[1]

Midwife

In 1845, she withdrew from public speaking and became a midwife.[4]

Martin died in Finchley Common in 1851 of tuberculosis, and is buried in Highgate Cemetery.[5] She died an atheist. Holyoake, who had spoken at her funeral, published "The Last Days of Emma Martin: Advocate of Freethought" the following year.[6]

Work

Religion Superseded, 1844
Baptism, A pagan Rite, 1844
Tracts for the People, 1844
The Bible No Revelation (1845?)
Punishment of Death?
A Miniature Treatise of some of the Most Common Female Complaints, 1848

References

Taylor, Barbara. "Martin [née Bullock], Emma (1811/12–1851), socialist and freethinker". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45460. Retrieved 27 September 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Emma Martin, Oxford Journals, Retrieved 10 September 2015
Thompson, Noel (2004). "Campbell, Alexander (1796–1870), Owenite socialist and journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47103. Retrieved 10 September 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Janes, Dominic (2011) Emma Martin and the manhandled womb in early Victorian England. In: Mangham, A. and Depledge, Greta (eds.) The Female Body in Medicine and Literature. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, pp. 107–118. ISBN 9781846314728.
Oakley, Robin. "Emma Martin" (PDF). Newsletter of Friends of Highgate Cemetery (August 2018): 8-9.
Liddle, Terry (March 2011). "The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society" (PDF). Ethical Record. 116 (3). Retrieved 10 September 2015.

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[odnb-1] Taylor, Barbara. "Martin [née Bullock], Emma (1811/12–1851), socialist and freethinker". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45460. Retrieved 27 September 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[ox-2] Emma Martin, Oxford Journals, Retrieved 10 September 2015

[3] Thompson, Noel (2004). "Campbell, Alexander (1796–1870), Owenite socialist and journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47103. Retrieved 10 September 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[4] Janes, Dominic (2011) Emma Martin and the manhandled womb in early Victorian England. In: Mangham, A. and Depledge, Greta (eds.) The Female Body in Medicine and Literature. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, pp. 107–118. ISBN 9781846314728.

[5] Oakley, Robin. "Emma Martin" (PDF). Newsletter of Friends of Highgate Cemetery (August 2018): 8-9.

[liddle-6] Liddle, Terry (March 2011). "The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society" (PDF). Ethical Record. 116 (3). Retrieved 10 September 2015.