Frederick Townsend Martin (1849-1914)
Society Leader & Art Collector of New York & London; died unmarried
He was born and brought up in Albany, New York. He was a great-grandson of Solomon Townsend and the brother (and co-heir) of Bradley Martin who like him played a prominent role in Gilded Age society. He was often asked to comment on society so it was soon suggested that he might be the natural successor to Ward McAllister and Harry Lehr but he was quick to point out that those frivolous days were over and it was only his willingness to discuss the negative effects of the idle rich on society that had seen him "reluctantly" placed in the limelight. He never married but lived for several years in Paris at 48 Avenue Gabriel in a house that he shared with his cousin and friend Henry M. Sands. Sands left him his art collection that he housed with his own at 6 Cumberland Place in London and after his death was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He belonged to clubs in New York, London and France, and authored two books: The Passing of the Idle Rich (1911) and Things I Remember (1913).
