Jonathan Martin (arsonist)
Jonathan Martin (1782 – 3 June 1838) was an English
Early life
Martin was born at Highside House, near
After he witnessed the murder of his sister by a neighbour, he was sent to his uncle's farm to recover from the shock. He was apprenticed to a tanner but was press ganged in London in 1804.[1] He served in the Royal Navy ship HMS Hercule for six years, including the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. He was noted among his shipmates for his religious obsession.
He left the Navy when his ship was broken up in 1810, returning to Norton, County Durham, where he married,[2] and his son Richard was born in 1814. After his parents died, he became a Wesleyan preacher in 1814, strongly denouncing the Church of England.[2] He gained a reputation for disrupting church services.[3]
After threatening to shoot the
. He escaped in June 1820, but was soon recaptured.His wife died of breast cancer in 1821, and he escaped from the asylum for a second time, returning to work as a
Arson
He remarried in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1828, to Maria Hudson, and the couple moved to York.
A year later, Martin had another mental breakdown. On Sunday 1 February 1829, he became upset by a buzzing sound in the
Martin was captured near Hexham on 6 February. He was tried at
Professor
References
- ^ a b "Object in Focus: No. 16". Museums Northumberland.
- ^ a b c Lloyd, Chris (29 April 2019). "The Darlington lunatic who torched York Minster". The Northern Echo.
- ^ a b c "Artist in Focus V - Jonathan Martin". Bethlem Museum of the Mind.
- ^ a b c d "Jonathan Martin - on mental diseases and arsony | Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". 23 April 2014.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (24 June 1829). "A full and authentic report of the trial of Jonathan Martin at the Castle of York, on Tuesday, March 31, 1829, for setting fire to York Minister; with an account of the life of the lunatic. The destruction of the choir of York Cathedral, on the second of February, 1829; the flight and apprehension of the incendiary; his examination and commitment to York city gaol; the proceedings at public meetings held at York, in consequence of the fire; embellished with a striking likeness of Martin and a ground plan of the minister [electronic resource]". York : H. Bellerby – via Internet Archive.
- Balston, T, The life of Jonathan Martin … with some account of William and Richard Martin (1945)
- Matthew, H. C. G. (28 September 2006). "Martin, Jonathan (1782–1838)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18198. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Fire in the Minster, History of York
- Martin, Jonathan (1782–1838) / London's Overthrow / LDBT703r, Archives and Museum Bethlem Royal Hospital
- Jonathan Martin, A Madman who Set Fire to York Minster, Newgate Calendar
- Adams, M. (2013). The Prometheans: John Martin and the Generation that Stole the Future. Quercus Publishing. pp. 7–28. ISBN 978-1-84916-708-6.
- ISBN 978-0-203-13666-9.
- Rede, W.L.; Rede, L.T. (1831). York Castle in the Nineteenth Century: Being an Account of All the Principal Offences Committed in Yorkshire from the Year 1800 to the Present Period, with the Lives of the Capital Offenders ... J. Bennett.
Further reading
- Baring-Gould, Sabine (1900). . Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events (5 ed.). London: Methuen. pp. 340–392.