Henry Marten

Sir Henry Marten, also recorded as Sir Henry Martin, (1562 – 26 September 1641) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1625 and 1640. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1617 to 1641.

Life

There are two main conflicting accounts of Marten's early life.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography identifies him as the eldest son of Anthony Marten, a merchant of London, originally from Wokingham, Berkshire, and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Yate of Lydford, Berkshire. It quotes John Aubrey, writing in 1680 (Brief Lives, 1.43), as giving Marten's birthplace as Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. Anthony à Wood in Athenae Oxienses, compiled between 1660 and 1669, also identifies Anthony Marten and Margaret as his parents, noting that Margaret was his second wife.

The History of Parliament identifies him as the second son of John Marten (d.1563), a wealthy London baker, and his wife Rose. It describes the identification with the merchant Anthony as "unlikely", as Henry Marten is known to have had an older brother, but suggests (in contrast to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) that Anthony Marten appears to have had only one son. It gives the date of Marten's baptism as 2 Aug 1562; John Marten died in October 1563. Further confusion is sown by an anonymous writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1830, who refers to Anthony Marten's wife as Anne Jacob.

Marten was educated at Winchester College and matriculated at New College, Oxford on 24 November 1581, aged 19. He became a fellow of the college in 1582 and studied civil and canon law. He graduated BCL in 1587 and DCL in 1592, and was admitted a member of the College of Advocates on 16 October 1596. He developed a large practice as a barrister in the admiralty, prerogative, and high commission courts, and was appointed official of the archdeaconry of Berkshire. and in 1617 became a judge of the admiralty court. Later he was appointed a member of the court of high commission and dean of the arches. Saint Mary's Church, at Longworth, Oxfordshire, England with his wife Elizabeth, who had died in 1618.