Peter Finch Martineau (12 June 1755 – 2 December 1847) was an English businessman and a philanthropist, with particular interest in improving the lives of disadvantaged people through education.

Life and family

A Unitarian, he was born into the renowned

Martineau family The Martineau family is an intellectual, business and political dynasty associated first with Norwich and later also London and Birmingham, England. The family were prominent Unitarians; a room in London's Essex Hall, the headquarters building ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and christened in the Octagon Chapel. His eldest brother Philip Meadows Martineau became a distinguished surgeon and his youngest brother Thomas fathered sociologist

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretic ...

and religious philosopher

James Martineau James Martineau (; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900) was a British religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism. For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College ( ...

. Engineer

John Martineau John Martineau the younger (1789 – 6 January 1832) was an English sugar refiner and engineer, best known for his involvement in the firm Taylor & Martineau. Life He was the third son of John Martineau, the elder, of Stamford Hill. Charles Har ...

was another of Peter's nephews. His first wife Susannah Scott had one son and his second marriage to Catherine Marsh brought him five more children. He and Catherine were both buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

. Their first daughter, Catherine, married the solicitor

Edward Foss Edward Foss (16 October 1787 – 27 July 1870) was an English lawyer and biographer. He became a solicitor, and on his retirement from practice in 1840, devoted himself to the study of legal antiquities. His ''Judges of England'' (9 vols., 1848� ...

. The eldest son Peter (1785-1869) married first Eliza Barnard and secondly Mary Anne (1794-1882), the sister of his schoolmate Sir

Francis Ronalds Sir Francis Ronalds FRS (21 February 17888 August 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, and arguably the first electrical engineer. He was knighted for creating the first working electric telegraph over a substantial distance. In 1816 ...

. Their children included Sarah (1828-1908), whose husband was the brewer and benefactor Charles Edward Flower.

Business interests

Peter Finch Martineau was active in various distinct businesses through his life. He was first a textile dyer in Norwich with his older brother David. He, David and their younger brother John then established a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

at the King's Arms Stairs (one of the watermen's stairs on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

), which merged with

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

in 1812. Next followed a sugar-refining partnership in Goulston Street,

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

with his son Peter Jr, which continued until around the latter’s death in 1869; Peter Jr

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

an important new process for clarifying sugar in 1815 with his cousin

. Peter Finch also opened a bank in St Albans after he moved there in 1818. The family in addition invested in mining operations in Devon, Cornwall and overseas, managed by Peter Jr's second cousin John Taylor. These included the Wheal Friendship mine at

Mary Tavy Mary Tavy () is a village with a population of around 600, located four miles north of Tavistock in Devon in south-west England; it is named after the River Tavy. There is an electoral ward with the same name. Its population at the 2011 census ...

and United Mines near Redruth. They also held Directorships in various Assurance companies: Peter Finch in the Hand in Hand Fire Insurance Society, and Peter Jr in the Equitable Assurance Office – he also served as auditor of the Phoenix Fire Assurance Company.

Education initiatives

The Martineaus supported a wide range of targeted education initiatives. Peter Finch was an early Governor of the

African Institution The African Institution was founded in 1807 after British abolitionists succeeded in ending the slave trade based in the United Kingdom. The Institution was formed to succeed where the former Sierra Leone Company had failed—to create a viabl ...

, founded by

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

when they succeeded in making the British slave trade illegal. He helped establish the

School for the Indigent Blind SeeAbility (formerly School for the Indigent Blind and Royal School for the Blind) is a UK charity that provides support and campaigns for better eye care for people with learning disabilities, autism and Visual impairment, sight loss. In 2017 it ...

in 1800 and was still chairing its meetings nearly half a century later – the organisation continues today as SeeAbility. He was also a Governor of the London Asylum for the Support and Education of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor; the House of Refuge for Orphan Girls; and the Refuge for the Destitute, which assisted people discharged from prison to enter the workforce. Finally, he served as Vice-President of the

Manchester Academy The Manchester Academy, originally known as the University of Manchester Main Hall, is composed of four concert venues, located on the campus of the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. The four venues are: Academy 1, 2 and 3 ...

Nonconformist higher education institution in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

for nearly two decades.

Political activities

Like others in his family, Martineau was Whig cum Radical in his politics. A friend of the political philosopher William Godwin, he joined the London Revolution Society and was an energetic supporter of Norwich MP William Smith. He later served as Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire. Peter Jr played an active role in the

Anti-Corn Law League The Anti-Corn Law League was a successful political movement in Great Britain aimed at the abolition of the unpopular Corn Laws, which protected landowners’ interests by levying taxes on imported wheat, thus raising the price of bread at a tim ...

from its beginnings in the late 1830s, where he chaired large meetings in the

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

where he lived and worked to garner support for the removal of import

duties A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martineau, Peter Finch 19th-century English businesspeople English philanthropists English Unitarians Education activists Businesspeople from Norwich 1755 births 1847 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Martineau family