ROMANCE RECALLED

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 19, 24 January 1929, Page 17

ROMANCE RECALLED

EARL AND VILLAGE MAID

A forgotten romance of long ago :a which-are bound the names of a peer and a shop,girl, is recalled by the erection' o£ a tombstone in the ancient jjarish churchyard at Elstree, Herts. It has been placed/there by Lord Sandwich in memory of the devotion of one of his ancestors , for a lowly-born village girl/and the tragedy which befell their love/V'Tho tombstone bears, in quaint ISthscentiiry lettering, the following inscription:— ".■•"." . • • Sacred to tthe Memory of ■;■' ■■■- *■•'■■■•• Martha Ray, Who died 7th April, 1779, Aged 34 Years. Martha Bay, reputed to be the daughter of a farm labourer, was born at Elstree ia 1745. She was a remarkably beautiful child. When about iouvteen eho became apprenticed in a milliners shop in Tavistock Court, Covent Gardenone of the smartest establishments of its kind: in the London of that day. Here she attracted the attention of the fourth Earl of Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty in the North Administration. : The early took the gjrl irom tho shop, placed her under the best music arid 'singing masters of the day— for she,, had great., natural talent—and finally'won her heart. Although there ■w-as already- a Countess of Sandwich, tho earl took Martha Kay to the family seat -■■at Hinchinbrook, Huntingdomshnvj, where he remained true to his love for nearly twenty years. In spite of her invidious position, Martha's great natural charm and sweetness of manner won for her the respect of all who knew her. All would have been well but lor tlie appearance on the scene of one Captain James Hackman, of the 68th I'oot. llackman, a handsome and dashing young man, fell violently in love with the beautiful Martha. Whether she encouraged him or not at first is uncertain, but in the end she dismissed him. Apparently in despair, Hackman bought himself out of the •Vrmy, took Holy. Orders, 'and obtained a living- in Norfolk. In a sudden impulse of frenzy he' decided to take his own life and that of the object of his passion. On the fatal evening of 7th April, 1779, Jliss Kay, accompanied by friends, went to Oovent Garden to see "Love in a Village. Hackman "followed her carnage, and awaited the end of the performance in the Kedford Tavern opposite. As Martha left the theatre Hackrnan dashed across the road, drew a pistol, and fired point blank at her forehead. As she fell dead Hackman drew another pistol, with the intention of taking his own life, but the shot went wide.' He was captured, tried, and hanged at Tyburn. The Earl of Sandwich ordered that Martha should be Jnid at rest in the church at Elstree, where as a child she had worshipped.