CFHS code : AG13
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : JOHN MARTIN MA for 25 years Vicar of St Andrew the Great OBIIT Dec 19 1891 aged 75 and SOPHIA JANE MARTIN his wife OBIIT Sep 14 1894 aged 76
Monument : Headstone/Stone cross
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202666, 0.13722528 – click here for location
Monument
Close to the centre circle in the south of the parish.
Inscription
JOHN MARTIN MA for 25 years Vicar of St Andrew the Great.
OBIIT Dec. 19. 1891. Aged 75 years.
“Jesus died and rose again”
And SOPHIA JANE MARTIN his wife.
OBIIT Sep. 14. 1894. Aged 76 years.
“She hath done what she could”
Rev. John Martin (7 July 1816 – 19 December 1891)
John was born in Saffron Walden and baptised at St. Mary the Virgin Church on 24 September 1816. He was the second son of John Letch Martin (1787-1862) and Mary Ann Elizabeth (née Hollingsworth) (1782-1842). He went to school in Huntingdon and Cambridge and then up to Sidney Sussex college in November 1834. He graduated with a B.A. (9th Senior Optime) in 1839 and an M.A. in 1842. He was a Scholar and Taylor Exhibitioner of his college. He was ordained s a priest in 1842 and served as Curate of Dursley, Gloucestershire (1839) and Curate of Dawlish, Devon (1855-1858). He married Sophia Rodd on 8 April 1856 at North Hill Church, Cornwall, who was the sister-in-law of the Vicar of Dawlish. John and Sophia had one daughter: Mary Ellen Rodd (1857-1937) who was born in Dawlish.
In 1858 John was appointed Vicar of St. Andrew the Great Church, Cambridge and the family moved to live at 11 Park Terrace. He was forced to resign in March 1885 due to ill health, but continued to live at Park Terrace. Mr Rowe said at the Easter Vestries meeting that the parish hoped ‘that the quiet retirement of private life may, by God’s blessing, mitigate his bodily suffering and prolong his life’. Mr Whitmore at the same meeting reported ‘they all had the highest feeling of regard for him and for Mrs. Martin and great difficulty would be experienced in replacing the services he had rendered. He had been a good minister and both he and Mrs. Martin had done an immense deal of good in visiting the poor of the parish’. His successor Rev. Saunders resigned in the summer of 1890 and such was John’s popularity within the parish he was persuaded to be curate-in-charge until a new successor (Rev. Smith) was appointed. He died at home and his funeral was held on 23 December. He had been unwell for some time and was said to have been ‘often drawn about the streets in an invalid chair’.
The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal wrote a short obituary noting that ‘Mr Martin held a foremost place amongst the clergymen of Cambridge, and when in 1885 illness compelled him to resign…we all felt we were severing a tie in the past of no ordinary character…St Andrew the Great owes much to the deceased gentleman’s liberality and beneficence and the affection with which he was regarded was demonstrated on Wednesday at the funeral, when many of his former parishoners were present at the service in the church’.
Sophia Jane Martin (née Rodd) (1817 – 14 September 1894)
Sophia was born in Cornwall and was baptised at St. Justin in Rosewood Church, near Truro on 2 December 1817. She was the daughter of Rev. Edward Rodd (1768-1842) and Harriet (née Rashleigh) (1779-1855) and her father was the parish priest. Edward Rodd inherited Trebartha Hall in 1836, but died six years later, when the Hall passed to Sophia’s brother Francis.. Prior to her marriage to John Martin she lived with her widowed mother, brother Edward and seven domestic servants at Mount Charles House, Truro.
After John’s death she continued to live at 11 Park Terrace with her daughter Mary and in September 1894 went to 22 Gratton Road, Kensington ‘for a short change’. She fell ill and died six days later. Her body was returned to Cambridge and she was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 18 September.
John and Sophia’s daughter Mary did not marry and lived in Bournemouth for some years (at least 1901-1911). She died in London aged 80 years old, and left money in her will for ‘the promotion of education in connection with missionary work in India, Pakistan or elsewhere in South East Asia’. She also bequeathed £200 in trust to the vicar of St. Andew the Great, £100 to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, £50 to the Cambridge Female Refuge and £50 to the Barnwell and Chesterton Clergy Fund.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]