Henry Marten was born on 20 Oct 1872 together with his twin sister Isabel Caroline Patricia Marten. They were the children of Alfred George Marten and nephew and niece of Henry John Marten, the water engineer. Henry and his sister were therefore first cousins of Florence Eliza Marten (later Evans)
Henry became a distinguished academic and historian and Provost of Eton College. After Princess Elizabeth became heir to the throne he was appointed royal tutor to the Princess, specifically to teach her constitutional history and theory.
Service at Eton College Chapel, 19 Jun 1938. Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost walking next to the Queen
Florence Evans’ daughter, Molly, kept some newspaper cuttings of Henry’s career – notably of the royal visit to Eton College in 1938 and the knighthood of Sir Henry in 1945.
Ceremony of knighting the Provost of Eton Henry Marten, outside Eton College Chapel, 4 Mar 1945
There is no evidence to suggest that Molly ever even met Henry, although her mother, who died in 1922 probably did. The twin sister Isabel, however, is a name in Molly’s address book and there was some formal correspondence. Isabel was very close to her twin brother, neither of the two married, and she handled his affairs after his death in 1948. It is Isabel Marten who handed the Marten archives, compiled and collated by her father Sir Alfred, over to Cambridge University Library by her trustees in 1968.
Sources and Notes
- The Marten Archive is catalogued ADD.MS7744 etc
- Sir Henry has a wikipedia page, linking to a video of his knighthood ceremony in Eton College
- The photos and cuttings all come from the Times, kept and noted contemporaneously by Molly Evans
- Two ‘notes’ from Isabel Marten have survived dated 1950. They concern the provision of a veil at the wedding of Molly’s daughter, Pamela. Isabel writes on 15 Dec 1950 that she was unable to attend the wedding as she had a chill.