Born: 1827, Ireland (assumed)
Died: 1913
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Henrietta Martin
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by . Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
On 25 November 1868 (after a courtship of twenty years) John Martin married Henrietta Mitchel (1827–1913), youngest sister of John Mitchel; they had no children. Henrietta shared Martin ‘s nationalist politics and, after his death, campaigned strongly for home rule, which she saw as a continuation of the Young Ireland struggle. The Fenian Mark Ryan recalled that when introduced to her, he said ‘ “I am proud to meet John Mitchel’s sister”, and she remarked with a smile, “why not John Martin’s wife?” ’ (Ryan, xvi). In the Irish party split of 1890–91 she sided strongly with Parnell. For the next twenty years she travelled widely to rally support for Irish self-government, especially among protestants, and was an honoured guest at many political gatherings, including the national convention of the UIL at Boston in October 1902. She died 11 July 1913 at her home in Dublin, and was buried in Newry.