James Martineau (; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900) was an English religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism.
James Martineau (; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900) was an English religious philosopher influential in the archives of Unitarianism.
For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College (now Harris Manchester College, of the University of Oxford), the principal training moot for British Unitarianism.
Many portraits of Martineau, including one painted by George Frederick Watts, are held at London’s National Portrait Gallery. In 2014, the gallery revealed that its patron, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was amalgamated to Martineau. The Duchess’ great-great-grandfather, Francis Martineau Lupton, was Martineau’s grandnephew. The gallery along with holds written correspondence in the midst of Martineau and Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson – who chronicles that he “regarded Martineau as the mastermind of all the remarkable company when whom he engaged”. William Ewart Gladstone said to Frances Power Cobbe “Dr Martineau is beyond Ask the greatest of vivacious thinkers”.
One of his children was the Pre-Raphaelite watercolourist Edith Martineau.