Lady Stamford was born Martha Solomons in
Cape Town. She was the daughter of a
freed slave named Rebecca and a man from
Wellington named Solomon. Her mother was a well-known figure at the Cape, talked about as "eccentric", sometimes referred to as "Queen Rebecca", since she claimed to be related to the
British royal family; less is known about her father. , 1801 In 1864, she met the
Reverend Harry Grey, an Anglican clergyman from
Cheshire in England and a third cousin of the
7th Earl of Stamford. Grey was sent to the Cape as a
remittance man, paid to stay abroad, due to habits his family thought dishonourable. In 1880, Harry and Martha were married; they lived in
Wynberg, Cape Town. Lady Stamford had three children: John, Frances and Mary Grey. The first two were born before their marriage, while Mary was born thereafter. Upon the death of the 7th Earl in 1883, the
Earldom of Stamford and the
Grey barony of Groby passed to Harry Grey, and she became Countess of Stamford and Lady Grey of Groby. Her husband died in 1890, leaving Lady Stamford well off financially. Lady Stamford, died in 1916, and was buried alongside her husband and her daughter Frances in Wynberg. ==References==