James Martineau | |
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| Born | 21 April 1805 Norwich, England |
| Died | 11 January 1900 (aged 94) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Manchester College, York |
| Notable work | The Rationale of Religious Inquiry (1836) The Seat of Authority in Religion (1890) |
| Region | British Unitarianism |
| Institutions | Manchester New College |
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James Martineau (/ˈmɑːrtɪnoʊ/; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900)[1] was a British religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism.
He was the brother of the atheist social theorist, abolitionist Harriet Martineau. James Martineau's children included the Pre-Raphaelite watercolourist Edith Martineau, and painter and woodcarver Gertrude Martineau.[2]
For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College[3] (now Harris Manchester College, of the University of Oxford), the principal training college for British Unitarianism.
Many portraits of Martineau, including one painted by George Frederick Watts, are held at London's National Portrait Gallery. In 2014, the gallery revealed that its patron, Catherine, Princess of Wales, was related to Martineau. The Princess's great-great-grandfather, Francis Martineau Lupton, was Martineau's grandnephew.[4][5] The gallery also holds written correspondence between Martineau and Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson - who records that he "regarded Martineau as the mastermind of all the remarkable company with whom he engaged". Martineau and Lord Tennyson were familiar with Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and noted that Leopold, who had often "conversed with the eminent Dr. Martineau, was considered to be a young man of a very thoughtful mind, high aims, and quite remarkable acquirements".[6] William Ewart Gladstone said to Frances Power Cobbe "Dr Martineau is beyond question the greatest of living thinkers".[7]
- ^ "Obituary - Dr. James Martineau, London - January 12, 1900". The West Australian. 15 January 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ^ "Martineau, Edith (Miss)", Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford University Press, 31 October 2011, doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00300589, retrieved 18 November 2023
- ^ Fairbairn 1911, p. 797.
- ^ Furness, Hannah. "Duchess of Cambridge visits National Portrait Gallery - home of little known Middleton family paintings". UK Daily Telegraph - page 3. UK Daily Telegraph - February 11th, 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ Gallery, London, National Portrait. "George Frederick Watts,- Portrait of James Martineau, 1873". NPG, London, 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ^ Greenwood, Grace (1883). Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood. Montreal: Dawson Bros. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- ^ Cobbe, Frances Power (1904). "London in the Sixties and Seventies". Life of Frances Power Cobbe as Told by Herself. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, Lim. p. 509.