Martha Andrew Manaton
Martha Andrew (d. 1721) was born the daughter of Solomon Andrew, Esq. of Lyme Regis in Dorset. Martha was the wife of Henry Manaton (1650-1716), M.P., of Harewood, Calstock in Cornwall son of Ambrose Manaton (1589-1651), M.P., of Trecarrell, Cornwall, by his second wife, Jane Mapowder. Henry Manaton predeceased his wife, leaving Martha as a widow for the next five years until her death in 1721. She remained in Calstock after his death. While Henry Manaton elected to be buried with his family at St. Sampson’s of South Hill in Cornwall, an entry in the parish register for Martha, who died in Calstock, on July 1, 1721 confirms:
"M Martha ye widow & relict of Henry MANATON late of Harwood Esq, daughter of Solomon Andrew Esq of Lyme Regis in the County of Dorset. Died at Harwood aforesaid July 1st 1721 & Her Body was laid in a Vault in ye Chancel of ye Parish Church of Tintenhall near Yeovill in ye County of Somerset 15 July 1721."
Her selection of Tintenhull in Somerset as a burial place was likely influenced by the presence there of her sister Rebecca Napper (1655-1745), nee Andrew, who was also a widow at the time of Martha’s death. Rebecca is remembered in a monument to the Napper family on the north wall of the Tintenhull Chancel.
A third sister, Jane had married Jasper Radcliffe. Martha’s marriage to Henry Manaton produced no surviving issue, and in Martha’s will she left to her niece, Martha Radcliffe (1688-1727), unmarried at the time of making Martha Manaton’s will, all the residue of her estate, requesting her not to sell her chariot or coach horses but to keep them for her own use.
Martha Radcliffe married the Reverend John Fursman (1680-1759) of Franklyn House, Exeter, and Hockworthy Court, Devon, to whom Martha Manaton had bequeathed her husband’s books, on May 18, 1721. In 1721, Fursman was appointed rector of Calstock. His predecessor was Lancelot Blackburn, Bishop of Exeter after 1717, and a personal friend of Henry Manaton. Fursman originated from the Devon parish of Lamerton nearby Calstock
Portrait of Jane Radcliffe, nee Andrew, sister to Martha Manaton.
Martha Fursman did not wait long after the death of Martha Manaton, only two years later, to write her own will which was then subsequently proved following her death in 1727. In Martha Fursman’s will a directive was made that £60 should be spent on a monument in memory of her aunt Martha Manaton in the church of Tintenhall. The duty to complete this directive fell on her surviving husband, John Fursman, Chancellor of Exeter Cathedral at the time that the monument was installed in Tintenhull.
The arms of Martha Manaton;
Manaton at left impaled with Andrew.
The inscription on the monument reads:
Martha daughter of Solomon Andrew
of Lyme Regis Esq.r
and widow of Henry Manaton of Harwood
parish of Calstoke Esq.r
died July the 1st, 1721
In the 56th year of her age.
in remembrance
of a most affectionate aunt
to whom she was indebted
of the improvement of her mind & fortune
this monument was designed
by Ms. Martha Fursman
[installed] in justice to the memory
[her] most deservedly dear to him
Rev.d John Fursman
Chancellor of the Church of Exeter
Portraits of Martha Radcliffe, c. 1726 Circle of John Vanderbank the Younger, and her husband The Reverend John Fursman by Thomas Hudson.
The monument is signed with “L. F. Roubillac” for the artist. Louis-François Roubiliac (1702 – 1762) was a French sculptor who worked in England, one of the foremost prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style in his time. By 1730, he had he moved to London. In London, he was employed early on by "Carter, the statuary" but was introduced by Edward Walpole, son of the Prime Minister, to Henry Cheere, who took him on as an assistant. After 1738, he was able to open the studio in St Martin's Lane that he maintained until his death. Roubiliac was a founding member of the St Martin's Lane Academy, a professional association and fraternity of rococo artists that was a forerunner to the Royal Academy.
He earned his living from commissions for portrait busts and monuments for country churches until 1745, when he received the first of his commissions for a funeral monument in Westminster Abbey. Even when the patrons were prominent, the churches in which the monuments were installed often lay deep in the English countryside.
Sarah Andrew, Henry Fielding and Tom Jones
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in London and is among the earliest English works to be classified as a novel. Residing in Lyme Regis, Dorset in the summer of 1725, eighteen-year-old Henry's affections soon latched onto fifteen-year-old Sarah Andrew. She was an heiress with a sizable inheritance. But Sarah was closely guarded by her uncle, Andrew Tucker. Henry and his servant attempted to abduct the lady one Sunday as she was on her way to church. While the abduction was thwarted by Mr. Tucker, Henry's attempt must have been a forceful one. Records in Lyme Regis show Mr. Tucker had Henry and his servant "bound over to keep the peace, as [Tucker] was in fear of his life or some bodily hurt to be done or to be procured to be done to him by H. Fielding & his man. A. Tucker feared that [Fielding] would beat, maim, or kill him."
Miss Andrew was swiftly hustled from Lyme Regis to Modbury, where she was soon married to Ambrose Rhodes, a more suitable gentleman. Disappointed and disgruntled, Henry Fielding left Lyme Regis - but not before he posted the petulant public notice now on display in Lyme Regis Museum:
This is to give notice to the World that Andrew Tucker and his Son John Tucker are Clowns, and Cowards. Witness my hand Henry F[ie]lding.
It has been said that Fielding drew his character of Sophia Western in Tom Jones from Sarah Andrew
