About

Dr Claire Martin has been a writer, historian or professional archival researcher for over ten years.

She studied first at St Peter’s College, Oxford and later at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her 2008 PhD, entitled Transport for London 1250-1550, examined the road and transportation developments in the late Medieval city of London. She began working for the research agency behind the television series Who Do You Think You Are, while still studying full time and subsequently worked as a part-time teaching fellow at Royal Holloway University and Queen Mary’s University.  She has carried out research for a number of London Livery Companies, for the Museum of London and The Museum of London Archaeological Service as well as for companies, private individuals and fellow academics.

She has previously written for BBC History Extra and her first book, Heirs of Ambition: The Making of the Boleyns (The History Press, 2023), is the first in-depth look at the family of Anne Boleyn and their rise from Norfolk peasant farmers to one of England’s most prominent families.

Some examples of projects both past and forthcoming:

• Research on the early history and formation of the Worshipful Company of Woolmen of London and the Worshipful Company of Girdlers.
• Archive research on the early intentions of John Nash for the gardens of the houses surrounding St James’s Park and on the Wilderness garden at Hampton Court Palace, on behalf of garden historian and designer Todd Longstaff-Gowan.
• Heirs of Ambition: The Making of the Boleyns (The History Press, 2023)
• A translation and scholarly edition of the inventories and probate accounts of Sir Thomas Charleton (d. 1465) for The Richard III and the Yorkist History Trust