tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-970746810324898604.post4807628182430474819..comments2023-03-22T07:01:56.428+01:00Comments on Lost On Time: Streatham Strolls West: Backtrackejhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-970746810324898604.post-6907728293672158792017-10-20T14:13:26.188+02:002017-10-20T14:13:26.188+02:00Thanks for your further comment, John, and insight...Thanks for your further comment, John, and insights into the goings-on at Swineshead Abbey.<br />Good luck with your continuing search for "Matilda". I think, after my none too successful encounter with Robert Martins, I shall leave you to it...<br />Best,<br />Martin.Martin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17616856982265044441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-970746810324898604.post-76022814631052095022017-10-20T13:43:20.533+02:002017-10-20T13:43:20.533+02:00Martin, thank you for another interesting article....Martin, thank you for another interesting article. Another good picture of Wyllie v. Martins!<br /><br />You present Staunton as licking his wounds after losing a lot of money at draughts to Martins. My recollection, from research for my Staunton book, is that the main action was between Ingram and Martins, with Staunton either looking on or amusing himself in other ways. None of the accounts I have seen are contemporary, so I don't expect any are very reliable. It is a popular story that Staunton taught Martins to play draughts, but I know of no good evidence for it. <br /><br />I found an interesting insertion in "Bell's Life in London" (26 November 1848, p. 7), in which Martins sought opponents for matches. He was associated with the Crown Coffee House, 35 Drury Lane. Clearly, he had a draughts reputation by then - in fact, your obituary said he had a match in 1844 - so Ingram should have expected a thrashing at Swineshead.<br /><br />Many thanks for finding the remark by James Lees that Martins left Cornwall for London at the age of thirteen. That sounds as if it may be right, but, since Lees, writing 64 years later, does not indicate his source for that information, I wouldn't want to rely on it. His father, Robert Martins, was an engineer, and the whole family was in Southwark by 1841. By 1851, Martins was married to "Matilda", aged 23, born at Deptford, whom I would like to identify. He married in 1864 as a widower.<br /><br />Best wishes,<br /><br />John<br />John Townsendnoreply@blogger.com