Martyn (surname)

Last updated February 24, 2024

Martyn, variant of Martin, is a surname of Gaelic origin. In Scotland, Martyn is a sept of Clan Cameron in the West Highlands. In Ireland, it is one of the Tribes of Galway.

Family history

The Martyn family were one of a group of fourteen families who became the premier merchant and political families in the town of Galway during the late medieval and early modern eras. They traded with Scotland, England, Wales, France, Spain, and Portugal. Many were dispossessed by the Irish Confederate Wars and the subsequent Cromwellian conquest. The family have cadet branches in the U.K., Canada, USA, France, Hungary, and several other countries.^{[ citation needed ]}

There is a worldwide internet-based society for people with the family name Martin and Martyn.^[1]

Notable Martyns of Galway

Wylliam Martin (fl. 1519), Mayor of Galway, builder of the Spanish Arch
Thomas Óge Martyn (fl. 1533–1577), builder of Galway's West Bridge
William Óge Martyn (fl. 1566–1593), notorious Sheriff and Mayor of Galway
Richard Óge Martyn (1602–1648), lawyer and Irish Confederate leader
Francis Martin (1652–1714), theologian
Richard Martin (1754–1834), member of Irish Volunteers, supporter of Catholic Emancipation, and founder of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Peter Martyn (1772–1827), soldier
Andrew H. Martyn (1784–1847), parish priest who died during the Great Famine
Thomas B. Martin (1786–1847), Member of Parliament and landlord who died saving his tenants during the Great Famine
Mary Letitia Martin (1815–1850), novelist
Edward Martyn (1859–1923), arts patron and political activist; co-founded Abbey Theatre, Dublin
Violet Florence Martin (1862–1915), novelist and short-story writer
Ferenc Martyn (1899–1986), Hungarian artist and sculptor descended from the Martyns of Galway

Martyns outside Ireland

The surname Martyn is common in the West of England, particularly in Devon and Cornwall, where the name spelling could be Martyn, Martin or Marten. In 1543 John Martyn, John Martyn and Joan Martyn are listed with reference to Davidstow (Dewstow) in the "Cornwall Subsidies in the reign of Henry Vlll".^[2] In the 1569 Muster Roll^[3] John Marten and William Marten are mentioned for Davidstow. In the Register for St Stephens by Launceston the baptisms are given for two sons of Richard Martin of Dewstowe – Nicholas Martin 24 May 1584 and John Marten 21 November 1586. Dated 27 July 1646 is a Davidstow Administration for John Marten the Elder, late of Davidstow and it is possible that this is the John baptised at St Stephens in 1586.^[4]

Notable people with the name include:

David Forbes Martyn (1906–1970), Scottish-born Australian physicist
Henry Martyn (1781–1812), Anglican priest and missionary in India and Persia
John Martyn (disambiguation), several people
Thomas Martyn (disambiguation), several people
Herbert Henry Martyn (1842-1937), founder of Martyns of Cheltenham

Related Research Articles

The Tribes of Galway were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy/D’Arcy, Deane, Fant, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martyn, Morris and Skerritt. Of the 14 families, 12 were of Anglo Norman origin, while two—the Darcy and Kirwan families—were Normanised Irish Gaels.

Richard Óge Martyn was a Galway lawyer and member of the Catholic Confederates of Ireland. He was of the senior line of the Martyn family, one of the Tribes of Galway. He lived at Dunguaire Castle, Kinvarra. He worked with his brother-in-law and first cousin, Patrick D'Arcy, against the Plantation of Connaught in the 1630s, and served on the Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics in the 1640s.

William Óge Martyn was the 101st Mayor of Galway.

Oliver Óge Martyn, Irish Jacobite and landowner, fl. ca. 1630-ca. 1709.

Patrick D'Arcy (1598–1668) was an Irish Catholic Confederate and lawyer who wrote the constitution of Confederate Ireland.

Thomas Óge Martyn, Mayor of Galway, fl. 1533-c. 1577.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wylliam Martin</span>

Wylliam Martin was the 34th Mayor of Galway.

Dominick Lynch was mayor of Galway, Ireland.

Richard Huskard was an Anglo-Irish settler. He was an ancestor of the family of Skerrett, who later became one of The Tribes of Galway. Later bearers of the name included John Skerrett (Mayor) (fl.1491-1492) and John Skerrett (Augustinian) (c.1620-c.1688). An earlier Richard Huskard held land near Galway in 1278.

Dominick Kirwin was an Irish Confederate, fl. 1642–1653?

Maria Gabriel Martyn (1604–1672) was Abbess of the Poor Clares of Galway.

James Skerrett, fl. 1513–1532, Mayor of Galway.

John Óge Kirwan, fl. 1530–1531, Mayor of Galway.

William Ó Ciardhubháin, fl. 1488, was an Irish merchant and the founder of one of the Tribes of Galway.

Tomás Bobhdacing, founder of the Bodkin family of The Tribes of Galway, fl. c. 1300.

Sir Henry Lynch, 1st Baronet was an Irish baronet, knight, lawyer, and land agent. Lynch was among the first of his family to become a lawyer, and several of his younger sons followed him into this profession, as did, under his influence, Patrick D'Arcy, Richard Martyn, and Geoffrey Browne as well as many of the later generations of the Tribes of Galway.

James Riabhach Darcy was Mayor of Galway in Ireland 1602–1603.

Geoffrey Browne was an Irish lawyer and politician.

Walter Riabhac Ó Dorchaidhe, Irish merchant and founder of the Darcy tribe of Galway, fl. c. 1488.

Máire Lynch, Countess of Clanricarde, fl. 1547.

References

↑ "Family History Society of Martin". Fhsofmartin.org.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
↑ Edited and published by T.L.Stoate, 1985.
↑ H.L.Douch, 1984
↑ "From Davidstow (Dewstow), North Cornwall: A Martyn, Martin, Marten Family and its Descent" by Michael Martyn published in the Cornwall Family History Society Journal, June 1992 Issue.

Sources

Ó Flaithbheartaigh/Roderick O'Flaherty, Ruaidhrí (1843) [1684]. Iar Connacht.
James Hardiman (1820). History of Galway.
Mary Donovan O'Sullivan (1942). Old Galway.
Moran; et al., eds. (1984). Galway: Town and Gown.
Nex, Lionel (1987). The Baronial Martins.
unknown, ed. (1996), Galway: History and Society
Miles, Dilwyn (1987). The Lords of Cemais. Haverfordwest.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Martyn, Adrian (2001). The Tribes of Galway.*Phillips, Peter (2003). The Man for Galway: Richard 'Humanity' Martin.
Henry, William (2003). Roll of Honor: The Mayors of Galway 1485-2002.
Martyn, Adrian (2016). The Tribes of Galway:1124-1642.

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[1] "Family History Society of Martin". Fhsofmartin.org.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2015.

[2] Edited and published by T.L.Stoate, 1985.

[3] H.L.Douch, 1984

[4] "From Davidstow (Dewstow), North Cornwall: A Martyn, Martin, Marten Family and its Descent" by Michael Martyn published in the Cornwall Family History Society Journal, June 1992 Issue.

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