The Martineau Guesthouse on Front Street, Tynemouth - Harriet Martineau stayed here from 1840 to 1845, her extensive travels interrupted by the incapacitating pain of an ovarian cyst. From her rooms at the back of the building she shared my new view across the river, watching through her telescope 'lovers and friends taking their breezy walks', or the Northern Lights flickering between the stars.
'The Hour and the Man', the story of Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, was written here. Along with Martineau's other writings on slavery the novel is credited with swaying popular opinion in Britain in favour of abolitionism.
In 1845 she experimented with mesmerism, a controversial 'alternative therapy' similar to hypnotism. A nine year reprieve from the pain of her illness resulted, along with a permanent rift with her brother-in-law, the famous Newcastle doctor, Thomas Michael Greenhow. Martineau moved to Ambleside in the Lake District and continued her travels in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, developing the observational methodology which was to become an essential part of modern sociology. During this period she also published 'Household Education', parts of which Charlotte Bronte, still writing to Martineau using her pseudonym 'Currer Bell', said were 'like meeting her own fetch'. (It was rumoured that Martineau was 'the real Currer Bell' during the speculation following the publication of Jane Eyre.)
'The Hour and the Man', the story of Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, was written here. Along with Martineau's other writings on slavery the novel is credited with swaying popular opinion in Britain in favour of abolitionism.
In 1845 she experimented with mesmerism, a controversial 'alternative therapy' similar to hypnotism. A nine year reprieve from the pain of her illness resulted, along with a permanent rift with her brother-in-law, the famous Newcastle doctor, Thomas Michael Greenhow. Martineau moved to Ambleside in the Lake District and continued her travels in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, developing the observational methodology which was to become an essential part of modern sociology. During this period she also published 'Household Education', parts of which Charlotte Bronte, still writing to Martineau using her pseudonym 'Currer Bell', said were 'like meeting her own fetch'. (It was rumoured that Martineau was 'the real Currer Bell' during the speculation following the publication of Jane Eyre.)
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