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OBJECT OF THE WEEK : B : Book Of Sermons

Whilst the Museum is closed and our collections unable to be seen by visitors, we have created a weekly virtual museum with an Object of the Week feature  from our collections.

Object B: Book Of Sermons

This may look like an unremarkable book cover but it dates back to 1792 and is the personal copy belonging to Rev William Hawtayne, who was Rector of Elstree from 1778 until 1812.  It is one of 8 volumes that has survived.

During his time as Rector, Rev Hawtayne would have presided over one of the more infamous burials of the period; that of Martha Ray who was murdered by her obsessive lover on 7^th April 1779. 

Martha Ray was born in Elstree in 1745 and by the age of sixteen she was an apprentice dressmaker in Clerkenwell.  Martha possessed a fine singing voice, became an actress and opera singer, and entranced John Montague, the 4^th Earl of Sandwich, who installed her as his mistress at his home.  It is reported that she bore him 9 children. Martha met Captain James Hackman in 1775 and despite his frequent proposals of marriage, Martha would not leave the Earl.  Hackman grew more and more obsessed about Martha and on the fateful night of 7^th April, he followed her to Covent Garden where she had been watching a play at the theatre.  As she was getting into her carriage, Hackman approached her and fired a pistol at her head, killing her instantly.  His attempt to kill himself at the scene failed, and he was hanged at Tyburn on 19^th April. 

Martha’s body was returned to Elstree and buried in the clothes she died in on 14^th April 1779, under the orders of Sandwich who was inconsolable. However, her remains appear to have been moved since the date of her interment.  When Elstree church underwent repairs in 1824, her coffin was found in a vault in the centre of the chancel.  A gravestone in the churchyard now marks her final resting place.  A letter to The Times in 1928 revealed that it was the 9^th Earl of Sandwich who replaced Martha’s crumbling tombstone with the one which stands there today.

Martha Ray by Nathaniel Dance, 1777

Notable Historical Fact : Yes it was John Montague, the 4th Earl Of Sandwich, who 'invented' the sandwich.