Life
1805-1900, b. in England of Huguenot origin, a br. of Harriet Martineau [q.v.]; ed. Norwich Grammar School but later privately as a sensitive child; converted to Unitarianism; ord. and appt. minister of Unitarian Church, Dublin, 1828 and appt. he was first sec. Irish Unitarian Church Society in 1830; surrendered his income in objection to the regium donum which he received on the death of his senior; moved to Liverpool ministry, 1832; appt. Prof. of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Econ., Manchester New College, 1840 and moved with the College to London, 1853;
issued Rationale of Religious Enquiry (1853), placing the authority of reason above that of Scripture, to wide renown; contested Chair of Philosophy of Mind and Logic at Univ. College, London, 1866, and became close friends with the successful candidate George Croom Robertson; ed. Prospective Review; published on Spinoza, ethics and religion; he was related to Catharine, Princess of Wales and hence the plethora of his portraits in the NPG; awarded D.Litt, TCD (Dublin), 1891 and other degrees from Harvard, Leiden and Edinburgh; added Transcendentalism to his philosophy after sojourn at Humboldt Univ. in Berlin. ODNB
References
Dictionary of National Biography notes that his sister Harriet [Martineau] wrote on women divines, also history, political economy and fiction.
Belfast Central Public Library holds Ireland and Her Famine (n.d.); Ireland: A Tale (n.d.), and Endowed Schools of Ireland (1859).
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