Nathaniel Marten was born in London on 19 May 1735, the second son of Robert Amberson Marten and his wife Alice Harford. His father had been a Bristol Merchant but seems to have had a variety of business interests, latterly based in London.
Nathaniel was a deeply religious man but both independent in thought and non-conformist. His father and mother had probably been Quakers, for some time, although his father renounced quakerism before his death in 1758. Nathaniel himself married Martha Clarkson on 29 Sep 1759 and all their children were baptized at New Broad Street Independent Church. There exists an autobiography that he wrote in about 1815 that tells us much about his struggles with the deaths of his children and his belief in the role of ‘Providence’
Nathaniel had a distinguished brother called Humphrey Marten, who rose to be Chief Factor of the Hudson Bay Company in Canada. At one point he had Humphrey’s half-Cree son John America Marten as an apprentice in London.
Nathaniel was a distinguished member, and later Freeman of the Cook’s livery company. Although he apparently had commercial interests in Chocolate and as a Pastry Cook, his business interests were far broader – this was the time in Georgian London of the Coffee House, the first joint stock companies, shipping insurance and the backing of shipping adventures to new and unexplored corners of the world. Although Nathaniel did not appear to have his father’s entrepreneurial spirit, he must have maintained a close network of like minded ‘city’ friends.
Nathaniel’s eldest two sons, Nathaniel and Robert Humphrey, were sent to school in Buckingham in 1769. Within a week of arriving at the school Nathaniel (jnr) had died – not only provoking much soul searching in his father, but was also a character forming event for the six year old Robert.
By the time Nathaniel Marten himself died in 1816, Robert Humphrey had further established the business interests describing himself as a Ship broker and Insurer, but still attached to the Cooks company.
Family of Nathaniel MARTEN and Martha CLARKSON
Husband: | Nathaniel MARTEN (1735-1816) |
Wife: | Martha CLARKSON (1736-1790) |
Children: | Nathaniel MARTEN (1762-1769) |
| Robert Humphrey MARTEN (1763-1839) |
| Ann MARTEN (1764-1769) |
| Martha MARTEN (1765-1798) |
| Samuel MARTEN (1767-1767) |
| Ann MARTEN (bap.1769) |
| Mary MARTEN (bap.1773) |
| Elizabeth MARTEN (1775-1799) |
| Charles MARTEN (1777-aft1815) |
| Joshua MARTEN (bap.1780, d.1781) |
Marriage | 29 Sep 1759 | St Mary Whitechapel |
| Witnesses: Specer Burgess and William Clarkson |
Husband: Nathaniel MARTEN
Name: | Nathaniel MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Father: | Robert Amberson MARTEN (1699-1758) |
Mother: | Alice HARFORD (1708-1780) |
Birth | 19 May 1735 | London |
Occupation | btw 1770 and 1790 (age 34-55) | Freeman of the Cooks Company |
Death | 17 Oct 1816 (age 81) | Assembly Row, Mile End |
Burial | 24 Oct 1816 | Bunhill Fields MI |
Wife: Martha CLARKSON
Name: | Martha CLARKSON |
Sex: | Female |
Father: | Nathaniel CLARKSON ( -1757) |
Mother: | Martha CARRIER (1703-aft1757) |
Birth | 1736 | |
Baptism | 19 Jul 1737 (age 0-1) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | 28 Mar 1790 (age 53-54) | |
Child 1: Nathaniel MARTEN
Name: | Nathaniel MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Birth | 4 Jan 1762 | |
Baptism | 24 Jan 1762 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | Jun 1769 (age 7) | Buckingham |
Child 2: Robert Humphrey MARTEN
Name: | Robert Humphrey MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Spouse 1: | Mary REEVES (1766-1790) |
Spouse 2: | Elizabeth GILES (bap.1759, d.1811) |
Spouse 3: | Emma Maria MARTIN (bap.1768, d.1827) |
Birth | 21 Mar 1763 | Great Prescott Street, Goodman Fields, Whitechapel |
Baptism | 10 Apr 1763 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Occupation | 24 Jan 1788 (age 24) | Freeman of the Cooks Company |
Residence | 1791 (age 27-28) | St Matthews Bethnal Green on Gravesend marriage register |
Religion | 1800 (age 36-37) | Congregationalist Lay Leader |
Residence | btw 1806 and 1839 (age 42-76) | Broadway (or the Great House) Plaistow1 |
Religion | 1807 (age 43-44) | Co Founder of North Street Congretional Church, West Ham |
Occupation | 1807 (age 43-44) | -; Deputy Chairman Commercial Dock Co, Rotherhithe |
Occupation | 1809 (age 45-46) | -; Master of the Cooks Company |
Occupation | 1814 (age 50-51) | Aid Committee chairman for Magdeburg2 |
Elected | 30 May 1814 (age 51) | -; Freedom of the city of Magdeburg (Ehrenburger) |
Occupation | 1818 (age 54-55) | -; Treasurer of Port of London Seamens Welfare Charity |
Occupation | 1824 (age 60-61) | -; Described as a ‘Ship Broker’3 |
Mission | Aug 1824 (age 61) | Visit to Magdeburg |
Occupation | 1825 (age 61-62) | Director of East London Water Works4 |
Occupation | 1827 (age 63-64) | -; Director of Thames Tunnel Company5 |
Occupation | 27 Jun 1827 (age 64) | -; Isambard Kingdom Brunel awarded medal for bravery in rescuing group inl RH Marten6 |
Occupation | btw 1827 and 1828 (age 63-65) | -; Committee for Repeal of Test and Corporation Act |
Will | 24 Dec 1838 (age 75) | Later Proved by sons Charles and George Marten (PCC 772 Vaughan) |
Death | 11 Dec 1839 (age 76) | Plaistow, Essex (Broadway House) |
Burial | 19 Dec 1839 | Bunhill Fields MI |
Child 3: Ann MARTEN
Name: | Ann MARTEN |
Sex: | Female |
Birth | 6 Apr 1764 | |
Death | Aug 1769 (age 5) | |
Child 4: Martha MARTEN
Name: | Martha MARTEN |
Sex: | Female |
Birth | 4 Nov 1765 | |
Baptism | 8 Dec 1765 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | 1798 (age 32-33) | |
Child 5: Samuel MARTEN
Name: | Samuel MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Birth | 17 Feb 1767 | |
Baptism | 8 Mar 1767 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | 1767 (age 0) | |
Child 6: Ann MARTEN
Name: | Ann MARTEN |
Sex: | Female |
Spouse 1: | William SMITH ( – ) |
Spouse 2: | Mr WILLIAMS ( – ) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 24 Sep 1769 | New Broad Street Independent |
Child 7: Mary MARTEN
Name: | Mary MARTEN |
Sex: | Female |
Spouse: | Cornelius BERRY ( – ) |
Baptism | 24 Oct 1773 | New Broad Street Independent |
Child 8: Elizabeth MARTEN
Name: | Elizabeth MARTEN |
Sex: | Female |
Birth | 1775 | |
Baptism | 9 Apr 1775 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | 1799 (age 23-24) | |
Child 9: Charles MARTEN
Name: | Charles MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Spouse: | Mary ARNOLD (1785-aft1839) |
Birth | 17 Feb 1777 | |
Baptism | 9 Mar 1777 (age 0) | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | aft 1815 (age 37-38) | |
Child 10: Joshua MARTEN
Name: | Joshua MARTEN |
Sex: | Male |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 13 Feb 1780 | New Broad Street Independent |
Death | 1781 | |