* Martha Brotherton

..... Englishwoman who wrote the FIRST vegetarian cookery book in 1812 in Salford, the birthplace of the modern vegetarian movement. Martha was a Salford woman and developed the vegetarian society with her husband William Harvey, twice elected Mayor and her brother Joseph, Salford's FIRST MP. Harvey's son-in-law founded the society in 1847

* Martha Clarke

 born 1944

..... one of the FIRST female members of Pilobolus, a collectively run dance-theatre ensemble in America

* Martha May Eliott

..... FIRST woman President of the American Public Health Association and was credited with aiding in the development of a cure for rickets which consisted of lots of sunshine and cod liver oil

* Martha Ellis Gellhorn

 born 1908 died 1998

..... wife of Ernest Hemingway and the FIRST witness in 1944 to the FIRST V1 rocket in Park Lane in London and the only unauthorised journalist on the beaches on the D-Day invasion. She was among the FIRST women to be acknowledged by male journalists as an equal and at the age of 81 was the FIRST correspondent into Panama as Noriega was ousted

* Martha Graham

 born May 11th 1894 died 1991

..... American dancer and choreographer who was the FIRST dancer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship  in 1932. Her career spanned 70 years and she choreographed some 180 pieces. She founded the Martha Graham Centre of Contemporary Dance and her dance technique is the most widely taught in contemporary dance. She was showered with public recognition and honours including the American Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts and the French Legion of Honour. Her husband Erik was one of the first male dancers to enter her company but they divorced in 1954

* Martha Jefferson

..... daughter of U S President Thomas Jefferson, she gave birth to the FIRST child to be born in the White House

* Martha Place

 born 1848 died March 20th 1899

..... when she became the FIRST woman to be executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York after she had killed her 17 year old stepdaughter on February 7th 1898 and then attempted to kill her husband. She petitioned the then governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt for a commutation but it was denied and she was electrocuted on schedule

* Martha Raye

 neé Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed

 born August 27th 1916 died 1995

..... actress and comedian and one of the FIRST Hollywood stars to entertain the troops abroad in the Second World War and also performed some nursing duties. She was known as the noisiest girl in Hollywood but her reputation in America earned her screen roles alongside the great male comics of the time W C Fields, Abbot and Costello, Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Durante and in 1948 she scored a considerable hit at the London Palladium.  She was married seven times her last one at the age of 75 when she married her manager aged 42

* Martha Rendell

 died 1909

..... when she became the FIRST and only woman hanged in Western Australia. She was executed in Freemantle Jail for the murder of the children of Thomas Morris whom she married in 1906 after he had thrown his wife out.  Soon after their marriage three of his children Anne, Olive and Arthur died and in 1909 she attempted to murder George but failed. She killed the children by swabbing their throats with hydrochloric acid after they had complained of sore throats, because she was jealous of the attention her husband gave them

* Martha Carey Thomas

 born 1857 died 1935

..... American feminist and educationalist who helped to create high standards in women's education. She helped with the establishment of Bryn Mawr College for girls and was appointed its FIRST Dean

* Martha Turner

 born 1839

..... FIRST woman Minister of Religion in the British Commonwealth. She was born in England, educated at Dijon and in October 1870 emigrated to Australia. When a minister had to go on sick leave in 1873, a special meeting was held and she was elected as the FIRST permanent minister at the Unitarian Church in Melbourne. She solemnized her first marriage on November 2nd 1876 and continued in office until 1883 when she resigned in order to travel to England with her husband

* Martha Wilson Woolley

..... American who was the FIRST woman graduate of the London School of Economics