Miss Martin's School

Anna Montgomerie Martin (8 November 1841 – 9 August 1918), always known as "Annie", but often signing her name "A. Montgomerie Martin", was a teacher and headmistress of Adelaide, South Australia.

Annie was born in Birmingham, England, the third child and second daughter of Ann (1809–1901), née Thornton, and Edward (1807–1894) Martin, distantly related to Charles Darwin. She first attended school at Highgate, Birmingham, then in 1850 migrated to Adelaide with her parents on the Anglia, arriving at Port Adelaide on 5 March 1851. The Martins soon met up with Francis Clark and his family, fellow-Unitarians.

The Clarks and the Martins were to have a remarkably close relationship, culminating in four Clarks and four Martins deciding to marry. Annie's education continued with Emily Clark as tutor at "Hazelwood", the Clark family home, and Annie in turn acted as tutor to her younger brothers. Older sister Lucy married the literate Howard Clark, and Annie might have wed Henry Septimus Clark, but she took a long break "home" in England, accompanied by Mrs Woods (wife of the Rev. Woods) from 1859 to 1861. There she got to know many of her and the Clarks' relatives, including Rowland Hill, Emily Clark's uncle. She visited a workhouse, a lunatic asylum, a boarding school and a jail, as well as taking drawing lessons and other "improving" activities. She probably spent time at Bruce Castle school, run by the Hills; a school where achievement was rewarded but punishment was rare.

Almost immediately after returning to Adelaide, she and Henry Septimus Clark, one of the founders of Stonyfell vineyards and winery, were engaged to be married. The date was set for 18 February 1864, but it turned out to be the day Henry died of tuberculosis, a disease that killed several others of the Clark family.

Annie, who may have determined never to marry, had to find herself a source of income, and like many other cultured women such as Caroline Carleton who found themselves without a partner, she set herself up as a tutor for the children of the better-off citizens of Adelaide. Subsequently, around 1870, she opened a morning school on the upper floor of a house in Pulteney Street. At first the clients of Miss Martin's School were mostly members of the Unitarian Church, but word spread that she was providing a well-rounded education free from dogma (comparable perhaps to John L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution but co-educational and teaching humanities rather than science, accounting and surveying). In 1874 The University of Adelaide opened, and from its inception allowed female students, and Miss Martin's School moved its focus to preparation of girls for higher education. The school closed in 1874 (perhaps from a dearth of suitable teachers) and Annie reverted to tutoring in a private residence on Strangways Terrace, North Adelaide, then worked at Mme. Marval's school in Ramsay Building at the corner of North Terrace and Rundle Place (now Gawler Place), tutoring in English and Mathematics. She may then have taught at Miss Senner's school in Barnard Street, North Adelaide. She took another two years off in England 1883–1884, then reopened her school at her home in Osmond Terrace, Norwood, teaching French, German, Italian and Greek. In 1893 she set up school at the corner of Pulteney and Rundle Streets, then on Victoria Square in 1897.

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