Edward Dimmack Marten, known as Teddy, was the eldest son of Henry John Marten. Born in 1855, he was educated at Mill Hill School and St John’s College, Cambridge and became a Civil Engineer. One of his uncles, Richard Weymouth, was the Headmaster of Mill Hill School another Alfred George Marten was a Fellow of St John’s.
Presumably under the guidance of his father, he found a job and worked for the Severn Commissioners most of his life. His younger brother Henry Marten also worked as an engineer on similar projects. The tasks appear to be essentially to review for Parliament, the system of reservoirs and sewage management all along the Severn valley and above all the need to furnish clean water to the rapidly expanding conurbations of the West Midlands. Teddy lived in Cheltenham but never married sharing a house with his sister Netty after the death of her husband in 1898. From about 1907 onwards he was increasingly crippled and he died at the age of 61 in 1917.
There are letters to Uncle Teddy from Wilmot Evans in 1915 discussing Wilmot’s being awarded the Military Cross. Uncle Teddy appears to have been Wilmot’s Godfather.
Attached is Edward Dimmack Marten’s death notice printed in a local Cheltenham paper. A similar text also appeared in The Times on 15 May 1917.