Martha Harvey Brotherton[1] (bornMartha Harvey; bapt. 1782 – 25 January 1861) was an English cookbook writer and an advocate forvegetarianism. In 1812, she publishedVegetable Cookery, the first known vegetarian cookbook. She marriedJoseph Brotherton, her cousin, in 1806; he later became Salford's firstMember of Parliament. A passionate supporter of theBible Christian Church, she championed the church's values, which included dietary reform and ethical living.
On 12 March 1805, she marriedJoseph Brotherton (1783–1857) at Whittington Anglican Church, Derbyshire. The couple initially resided inManchester before moving toSalford, where her husband inherited his father's cotton mill, became a minister of theBible Christian Church, and eventually Salford's firstMember of Parliament. The couple had four children, includingHelen.[3]
Brotherton played a significant role in the Bible Christian Church, both as the minister's wife,[3] and as the author of the firstvegetarian cookbook,Vegetable Cookery, in 1812.[8] The book was originally published anonymously[9] and was republished several times throughout the 19th-century.[10] Historians have observed that Brotherton's book guided early 19th-century Americans in adopting vegetarianism.[11] Kathryn Gleadle notes that the book was crucial to the movement, forming the basis for later vegetarian cookbooks.[12]
Brotherton attended the first annual meeting of the Vegetarian Society, as well as other meetings.[4]
^Sources vary regarding Brotherton's birth year, listing it as 1781,[2] 1783,[3][4] or 1784.[5] TheOxford Dictionary of Biography gives the year of her baptism as 1782 and her parents as Joseph and Martha Harvey (née Brotherton).[6] This identification of her mother as Martha is supported by her Weaste Cemetery Heritage Trail biography.[3] However, baptismal records from Whittington, Derbyshire for the years 1781 to 1784 list only one Martha Brotherton, who was baptised on 24 June 1782, with her parents listed as Joseph and Hannah Harvey.[7]
^Baughman, James L; Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer; Danky, James P. (2015).Protest on the Page: Essays on Print and the Culture of Dissent Since 1865. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 114–115.ISBN978-0-299-30284-9
^Gleadle, Kathryn.The Age of Physiological Reformers: Rethinking Gender and Domesticity in the Age of Reform. In Arthur Burns, Joanna Innes. (2003).Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780-1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 216.ISBN0-521-82394-3
