Martha Killock 1731-1815

Martha Killock's father was Friend Killock 1693 , his mother being a Mary Friend 1665 , thus explaining the unusual christian name of Friend in succesive generations. An Ancestry tree goes back to a Thomas Friend ~1493, John Friend 1514, John Friend 1549, John Friend 1588, James 1614, Mary 1665. The spelling of her name changed from Killik to Killick to Killock wth time

1731. Martha Killick was baptized on 19 September 1731 at St Nicholas Church Brighton . She was the daughter of Friend Killick and Ann Bridger

1758. Martha Killick, ~27, married Stephen Gunn, son of Nathaniel Gunn and Abigail Brapple, on 9 March 1758 at St Nicholas Church Brighton

36 East street, Grade 2 listed, a tearoom in the past, still a restaurant today. The above box found in Norfolk 2017 by Jenny, lifetime friend of Vic & Gaynor Gunn!!

Stephen & Martha had: Martha 1758, Mary 1764 , - these 2 on FS - Nathaniel 23/11/1766, William Brabble 1770, Stephen 1771, Elizabeth Brabble 1774, England & Wales Christening records 1530- 1906 Ancestry

Vic is descended from a Nathaniel Gunn, born 1802 or 1803. These 2 Nathaniels were respectively sons of Nathaniel Gunn 1766 & of William Brabble Gunn 1770. Whichever is correct , Martha & Stephen Gunn are the 4 x g grand parents of Vic!

Martha came from a well-known family of fishermen and started work as a ladies' bathing attendant or "dipper" when she was a young woman in her twenties. She did not completely retire until 1814, when she was in her late eighties. Her long career as a "dipper" and her special relationship with George Augustus Frederick, the Prince of Wales (1762-1830) ensured that she became a local celebrity and the most famous "dipper" in Great Britain.

It is also on record that Martha was well liked by the Prince Regent, and because of this she could often gain access to the servants' areas of the Royal Pavilion. There is a story that on one occasion, she was in the kitchen and seized the opportunity to slip a pat of butter into her apron pocket, and unfortunately the Prince saw her do it. Instead of calling the local constable and having her arrested, he took her aside to where the huge ovens were and then carried out a lengthy conversation, keeping her there until well after the butter had melted

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~1780 portrait, artist unknown - maybe John Russell- of Martha Gunn. . . "The 'queen' of the Brighton dippers was the famous Martha Gunn. Born in 1726, she was a large, rotund woman and dipped from around 1750 until forced to retire through ill health in about 1814"- photo from Williams Private Ancestry tree

1815. Martha Gunn died on 2 May 1815 at Brighton, Sussex, England, at age 83 (from the gravestone in St Nicholas Church).
Martha Gunn was buried on 8 May 1815 at St Nicholas Church, Brighton, Sussex, England, of East St, Brighton. Age 88 years. Buried by the south-eastern corner of St Nicholas Church; her portrait, painted in 1796 by John Russell, hangs in the tea-room of the Royal Pavilion and her house still stands on 36 East St

A gravestone inscription for Martha Killick and Stephen Gunn was recorded as""In Memory of STEPHEN GUNN who died 4th September, 1813, Aged 79 Years. Also MARTHA, Wife of STEPHEN GUNN, who was Peculiarly Distinguished as a bather in this Town nearly 70 Years. She died 2nd of May, 1815, Aged 88 Years." The gravestone also includes details of the couple's four children - Friend, Elizabeth Brapple, Martha and Thomas Brapple, who pre-deceased their parents

"A portrait of Martha Gunn has been sent to England from Australia by Chris Gunn and is now displayed at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. You can find more information on:
http://www.virtualmuseum.info/press/210.asp"- not a direct link!, need to copy and google

1667. John Killik was baptised to Robert Killik & Joane Miller 27/4/1667 Brighton

1693. Friend Killick was baptised to John Killick & Mary 23/4/1693, Brighton

1716. Friend Killock married Anne Bridger, 1/7/1716 Brighton - FS contributor

Friend & Anne had the following children, all baptised in St Nicholas Brighton:

Anne 1717, Freind 1719, John 1724-1730, Robert 1727-1729, Mary 1729, Martha 1731, Hannah 1734, Elisabeth 1739.

Martha Gunn, Brighton’s Queen of the Dippers

August 12, 2009 by Vic

Martha Gunn, dipper

In a scene in 1998′s Vanity Fair with Natasha Little as Becky Sharp, she visits Brighton with her husband and friends. The film, set during the Regency era, depicted a scene in which one of the party is taken from a bathing machine and dipped into the cold waters by a large woman. The bather floats on her back with her bathing costume billowing from the trapped air. This comical scene was based on fact. Brighton during the late 1790′s early 1800′s employed some twenty male and female “dippers”” whose jobs were to vigorously dip their clients into the sea and push them through the waves, keeping them afloat, then help them back into the bathing machine.

floating with billowing skirt vanity fair 1998

righton’s most famous dipper was Martha Gunn, a large, sturdy woman whose fame exists to this day. Bathers were separated by sex, a restriction that remained until 1930 in Brighton, and were drawn into the waters by horses hitched to bathing machines. The bathers would be inside the vehicles changing into their bathing costumes, or not, for, screened from the world and the opposite sex, they would enter the waters au naturel. The terminology for immersion differed for the sexes. When men immersed men into the waters, it was called bathing. When women immersed women into the waters, they were dipping.

Sea Bathing machine

In a Directory of Brighton 1790 the bathers are listed as follows:

Martha Gunn Toby Jug

Born in 1726,- this incorrect! - Martha Gunn dipped seaside visitors from around 1750 until she was forced to retire through ill health around 1814. She was such a popular figure that the Prince of Wales granted her free access to his kitchens. The dipper was known as ‘The Venerable Priestess of the Bath’ by the locals. Large and strong, well known and respected by the townsfolk as well as the visitors, Marth appeared in comic caricatures of the times. In one where the French are seen to be invading Brighton - after a real scare that Napoleon was about to land - Martha is seen vigorously wielding a mop, and in an engraving of 1806 she is seen standing in the Old Steine behind the Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert. “Life for Dippers and Bathers was not easy – standing all day in the sea even in August calls for a tough constitution and Martha Gunn’s ample size was no doubt one of the reasons for her success in the cold waters.” Mrs. Gunn died in 1815 and is buried in the yard at St Nicholas Church. Her portrait hangs in the tea-room of the Royal Pavilion, and her house still stands on 36 East Street, a commercial thoroughfare servicing the large houses of the Steine. Her fellow dippers and bathers continued to perform their duties in Brighton until the mid 19th century.

[Dippers] were also technicians of the ritual process: on-site masters of the requirements of the sea-bathing treatment. They judged the waves, the state of their clients, and their daily requirements: bathing at such and such a time or for so long. Many of the bathers could not swim: Dippers, often women, were essential figures of dependable strength and assurance. This might explain the inordinate affection of them. The ritual purging and bathing, the ministrations of the Dipper, and the natural influence of the seashore itself with its salt water, sea air, and ‘ozone’ were vital ingredients in both the reality and perception of a Cure.