Notebook of Dorothy Martyn [manuscript] [1720-1746].

[Barking, Essex], [1720-1746].

1 volume ; 19 cm

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Great Britain -- England -- London, -- production place.

272900 MS

From dealer's description: "51 MARTYN, Mrs. [Dorothy]. MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK. Noting down what was most important too her including Winchester, Family and her purchase of flower bulbs. [Barking, Essex] [c 1720-1746]. £ 3,250 MANUSCRIPT IN INK. 8vo, pp [44], including 12 pp of blanks; contemporary panned calf, somewhat worn but cords still firm, gilt edges, inscribed in pencil an early nineteenth century hand ‘Written by Mrs Martyn daughter of Samuel Brewster & Mary Mildmay.’ [see below]. Rare and highly desirable manuscript notebook from the first half of the eighteenth century, that records all that was most important to the compiler, Dorothy Martyn. She was born in Barking and baptised there on the 25th September 1684 the daughter of Samuel Brewster and Dorothy Mildmay, although it is clear that she was not brought up at Barking but instead at Winchester. She returned to Barking where she married Henry Martyn and then appears to have lived the rest of her life there. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Barking probably had a total population not much above a thousand people. Defoe’s description of Barking, which he visited in 1722, gives the impression of a busy little fishing port supplying the London market. We do not know what occupation the Martyn family had, but from the notebook it would appear they probably lived in the town, and as we shall see, Dorothy was happy to grow a wide variety of indoor flowers, ‘in water’, for winter flowering. The opening section contains ‘An account of things Remarkable in Winchester’. Here Dorothy relates a short history of the city, abbey and various foundations. These notes appear to be original and were quite probably kept as an aide-mémoire of the years before her marriage. ‘Old men & Boys are maintain’d in an Hospitall built by Mr Symonds, merchant of London. An Hospitall called St Johns house. Is a Charitable receptical for Old Widows. There is likewise a Free School for Boys & Maids, who are annually cloathed. The Natives & Aliens Feasts are Kept here, when Every one Contributes attording to their Generosity for ye apprenticing the Elder Boys & Maids of the School. The Public Infirmary lately Erected & Supported by Voluntary Contributions, Is a Convenient, not a fine building.’ Some criticism of the running of one of the institutions is pointed out: ‘Besides these Public Charities large sumes are lodged in the hands of the Corporations for good & Beneficient uses. St Cross near Winchester Established by Henry de Blois Brother of King Stephen & Bishop of this Citty & farther endowed by Cardinall de Beaufort. Is a Generous Benefaction. This Allmshouse was built for two Chaplains, poor men & 3 Women to be Governed by a master of that Hospitall. Att present Thirteen men only are maintained & a Master. Where yearly Revenue arises to more than that of its first Foundation, Tho’ Double & more than a Double Number were to maintained out of it.’ This defect was mentioned by Daniel Defoe in his A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain of 1724 so must have been a well known fault which Dorothy felt compelled to write down. Of more interest, however, is Dorothy Martyn’s interest in flowers. First there is ‘A Catologue of the Flowers that Blow [i.e. bloom ] very well in Water’ listing some 47 varieties including such names as ‘Flagg Flower de Luca’, ‘Butter Blob’, Zarr of Muscovy together with twelve ‘Tulyps’ varieties including ‘Duc van Thol’, ‘Claremont [Claermond?]’, ‘Bean Roggard’, ‘Parrott Tulips, Scarlett & Green’, ‘Tulip like the Duke de Vantall’ etc. She also lists many of these varieties together with their costs and also who she purchased her flowers from. These include ‘The Roots I bought or Mr Seno’, ‘Rootes bought of Sampson’, ‘Roots bought of Mr Good, Gardiner att Chelsea’, and ‘Roots Bought of Mr Goodchild att Hogsden [i.e Hoxton].’ At Goodchild’s she bought seven ‘Early Claremont Tulips’ for 3s; ‘26 Dutch Crocus’ for 4d; and ‘A Quarter Hundred of Scotch Crocus’ for 1s 6d. which indicates she had a moderate sized flower garden at Barking. The latter part of the manuscript contains a record of family births and deaths. It is here that she mentions her husband ‘Henry Martyn was Born on the 5th July 1668. Henry Martyn Dyed the 20th of Febry 1729 & was buryed on ye 1st day of March att Barking Church in Essex.’ This entry is followed with the births and deaths of her five children, all of whom predeceased Dorothy and Henry: ‘I buryed my Dear Mr Martyn & my daughter Lydia in the same grave with my father which lies under a large Square Pugh in the little Chancell of the South Side.’ We have been unable to pinpoint where in Barking the Martyns precisely lived, although the mention of burial in ‘the same grave with my father’ points to Dorothy being a lineal descendant of John Brewster who had prior to 1651 bought the manor of Wyfields. This manor stood a mile or two to the north of Barking and close to the London Road and was held by members of the Brewster family until the middle of the eighteenth century. Dorothy also makes entries for ‘The Daughters of my brother Brewster that are now Living’ together with various members of the Kingston family, who she describes as her cousins. As Dorothy and Samuel Martyn had no heirs their line of the family died out and consequently left little in the way of recorded information behind them. A few pages containing extracts from the Bible, not in Dorothy’s hand, have been written into notebook in-between the pages recording of births and deaths. This may well have been penned as a help to Dorothy at the time of her husbands death. The last dated addition to the manuscript is from 1740, although Dorothy may of course have added other notes up until her own death. The later pencilled inscription on the front endpaper mistakenly states that Dorothy’s mothers name was ‘Mary Mildmay’, probably as her branch of the family had all died out it was only natural that such a memory slip had here crept in." Ordered from Pickering and Chatto, D9712, 2024-02-21, Cat. 812, item #51

272900