Family Name: Martyn
First Name: Thomas
Birth Date: Wed, Sep 21, 1735
Birth Place: Cambridge
Death Date: Fri, Jul 01, 1825
Death Place: Pertenhall
Main places of activity:
Place From To
Cambridge 1750 1774
Place From To
Little Marlow 1774 1782
Place From To
London 1782 1796
Personal info:
Education

Until the age of seventeen, Martyn was educated by Reverend Rothery at Paradise Row in Chelsea, London. In 1752, he became pensioner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied classics with Bishop Richard Hurd.

Martyn later obtained two scholarships and an exhibition, eventually graduating in 1756. He was then awarded the MA in 1759 and Bachelor of Divinity in 1766.
Career

Ordained deacon in 1758, the next year Martyn became priest

From 1760 to 1774, Martyn was tutor of his college and in 1762 he was elected professor of botany, a tenure he was granted until his death in 1825.

From 1774 he became rector of Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire, and in 1776 vicar of Little Marlow.

Martyn was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1786, while from 1791 to 1796, he also acted as secretary to the Society for the Improvement of Naval Architecture.
Financial Situation

 In 1793, Martyn was given a pension of £100 per annum.
Translations Other Works

translations activities

Martyn only translated two works, and his most popular and widely circulating one is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Lettres élémentaires sur la botanique.

secondary bibliography references

G. S. Boulger, revised by Arthur Sherbo, 'Martyn, Thomas (1735-1831)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

G. C. Gorham and T. Martyn, Memoirs of John Martyn … and of Thomas Martyn, London, Hatchard & Son, 1830, pp. 85 and ff.

Translations

  • Le Antichità di Ercolano esposte con qualche spiegazione

  • Translation Title: The antiquities of Herculaneum; translated from the Italian, by Thomas Martyn and John Lettice, Bachelors or Divinity, and Fellows or Sidney College, Cambridge. Vol.I. Part I. Containing the pictures.
  • Original Author: Ottavio Antonio Bayardi (ed.)
  • Original title: Le Antichità di Ercolano esposte con qualche spiegazione
  • Publ. Year From: 1756 to: 1791
  • lang: Italian
  • Translation: The antiquities of Herculaneum; translated from the Italian, by Thomas Martyn and John Lettice, Bachelors or Divinity, and Fellows or Sidney College, Cambridge. Vol.I. Part I. Containing the pictures.
  • Publisher: W. Bowyer and J. Nichols
  • N° Editions: 1
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1772
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Martyn and his fellow tutor John Lettice worked for five years on this translation from the original first Italian edition. After publishing the first part however, legal issues raised by Neapolitan court prevented the appearance of the remaining volumes.

  • Lettres Elémentaires sur la Botanique

  • Translation Title: Letters on the Elements of Botany, addressed to a Lady, By the celebrated J. J. Rousseau
  • Original Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  • Original title: Lettres Elémentaires sur la Botanique
  • Publ. Year From: 1781 to:
  • lang: French
  • Title: Collection complète des œuvres de J.J. Rousseau
  • Pub. Place: Geneva
  • Pub. Year: 1781
  • Lang: French
  • Note:

    In the preface, Martyn states he used this first edition to prompt his translation. The Lettres can be found in tome 7 : Mélanges, tome 2.

  • Translation: Letters on the Elements of Botany, addressed to a Lady, By the celebrated J. J. Rousseau
  • N° Editions: 8
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1784
  • Lang: English
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By:

  • Giovanni Lista