Martha Harvey Brotherton (born Martha Harvey; 1783 – 13 January 1861) was an English cookbook author. She published Vegetable Cookery in 1812, the first vegetarian cookbook. She married her cousin Joseph Brotherton in 1806.
Martha Harvey, was born in 1783 in Whittington, Derbyshire, the daughter of Joseph Harvey and Martha Brotherton. She had several siblings. Her brother, William Harvey, became a notable figure in Salford's Bible Christian Church and various social reform movements, including the Vegetarian Society, temperance, and parliamentary reform. William also served as Mayor of Salford in 1857 and 1858.[1]
On 12 March 1805, she married Joseph Brotherton (1783–1857) at Whittington Anglican Church, Derbyshire. Joseph was the son of John Brotherton (1740–1810), a schoolmaster and tax collector who later became a cotton mill proprietor in Manchester, and Mary (1743–1822). The couple initially resided in Manchester before moving to Salford, where her husband inherited his father's cotton mill, became a minister of the Bible Christian Church, and eventually Salford's first Member of Parliament. The couple had four children.
Brotherton played a significant role in the Bible Christian Church, both as the minister's wife, and as the author of the first vegetarian cookbook, Vegetable Cookery, in 1812.[2] The book was originally published anonymously[3] and was republished several times throughout the 19th-century.[4] Historians have observed that Brotherton's book guided early 19th-century Americans in adopting vegetarianism.[5] Kathryn Gleadle notes that the book was crucial to the movement, forming the basis for later vegetarian cookbooks.[6]
Brotherton attended the first annual meeting of the Vegetarian Society, as well as other meetings.[7]
Brotherton died of a heart attack on 13 January 1861 at the age of 78. She was buried alongside her husband at Weaste Cemetery, Salford. A statue was made for her by Matthew Noble.