Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Matthew

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MARTIN, MATTHEW (1748–1838), naturalist and philanthropist, born in 1748 in Somerset, was engaged in trade at Exeter. He was a member of the Bath Philosophical Society, and in early life devoted some attention to natural history, publishing 'The Aurelian's Vade-mecum; containing an English Catalogue of Plant' affording nourishment to Butterflies, Hawkmoths, and Moths in the state of Caterpillar,' 12mo, Exeter, 1785, and 'Observations on Marine Vermes, Insects, &c.,' fasc. 1, 4to, Exeter, 1786. Later on he obtained the post of secretary to a commission for adjusting St. Domingo claims, and settled in a house adjoining Poets' Corner, Westminster. About 1796 he began 'an enquiry into the circumstances of beggars in the metropolis,' and joined the 'Society for Bettering the Condition ... of the Poor,' of which he acted for a time as secretary. Martin proposed a plan for a systematic inquiry into the nature and extent of mendicity in London, and in 1800 obtained a grant of 1,000l. from the treasury in two instalments. His report, in the form of a 'Letter to Lord Pelham on the State of Mendicity in the Metropolis,' was published in 1803, and reissued by the society in 1811.

To his efforts was partly due the institution, in January 1805, of the Bath Society for the Investigation and Relief of Occasional Distress.

In 1812 Martin appears to have engaged in a further inquiry, supported in part by a government grant and in part by subscriptions. To further the project Martin issued 'An Appeal to Public benevolence for the Relief of Beggars,' 1812.

He died at Blackheath, aged 90, on 20 Nov. 1838 (Gent. Mag. 1839, pt. i. p. 104). His wife died 9 Aug. 1827, aged 73 (ib. 1827, pt, ii. p. 282).

[Letter to Lord Pelham; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Pantheon of the Age. 182-5, ii. 731, cf. Sarah Trimmer's (Economy of Charity, 1801, ii. 165, 341-5; John Duncan's Collections relative to the Systematic Relief of the Poor, 1815, p. 181; Watt's Bibl. Brit. ii. 650.]