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Martha Ray (1746 – 7 April 1779) was a British singer of the Georgian era. Her father was a corsetmaker and her mother was a servant in a noble household. Good-looking, intelligent, and a talented singer, she came to the attention of many of her father's Patronage. She is best known for her affair with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. She lived with him as his mistress from the age of seventeen, while his wife was suffering from mental illness. She gave birth to nine children, five of whom survived, including the lawyer and philanthropist Basil Montagu. During this time, she conducted a successful singing career, for which she became well known, as well as completing her education with Lord Sandwich's support.
In 1779, Hackman left the British Army to join the church. At some point, believed to have been around 1778, Ray and Hackman had become involved romantically, but this affair was short-lived, by most reports due to her believing he lacked the financial means and social status to support her. However, Hackman was completely infatuated with Ray, becoming increasingly jealous, and continued to pursue her.
As Martha was about to climb into her carriage, Hackman approached and murdered her with a shot to the head with his Flintlock pistol. Whether she and Coleraine were involved in an affair has never been clearly established.
After firing his shot at Martha, Hackman pulled out a second pistol and attempted to shoot himself, but the bullet only glanced him and left him wounded. Having failed at his suicide, he attempted to club himself to death with the butt of his pistol, but a crowd swiftly pinned him down and he was later arrested by the Bow Street Runners.
Sandwich was reportedly devastated when her empty carriage arrived at The Admiralty and he was informed of her death, saying "I could have borne anything but this."
Two days after her burial at St Nicolas Church on the 14th April, Hackman was sentenced to death by hanging. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, telling the court that he had only ever intended on killing himself. However, the fact that he had been carrying two loaded pistols indicated otherwise and the jury didn't even feel the need to retire in order to return their verdict. Hackman's sentence was carried out on 19 April in front of a large crowd in Tyburn, London.
The events surrounding her murder were used in the popular 1780 novel Love and Madness by Herbert Croft.
Ray was buried in a vault under a pew in St Nicholas church, Elstree. During renovations of the church in 1824, the vault was re-discovered and Ray's remains moved to an unmarked grave in the churchyard. In 1920, the then Earl of Sandwich had a tombstone erected over the grave.
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