During his many years of service as Comptroller of the Navy, Martin was credited with reducing the fleet from the enormous size deployed against the French to a much more streamlined service geared toward protecting merchant trade and the British Empire. He also focused heavily on employing highly trained dockyard staff capable of responding rapidly to any international emergency. Martin also sat in Parliament for 14 years and was an outspoken critic of government attempts to reduce the Navy budget which ultimately saw him dismissed in 1831 by his old friend King William IV.
Martin died in October 1854, at the early stages of the Crimean War, planning the Baltic Campaign and investigating the possibilities of using poison gas weapons.
Early life
Born the third son of Sir Henry Martin, 1st Baronet (later MP for Southampton) and his wife Eliza Anne Gillman (née Parker), Martin was educated at Freshford School, Southampton Grammar School and later the Royal Grammar School, Guildford.[1] During his education, he was also enrolled on the books of several Navy ships, a custom of the period to ensure that when he was old enough to go to sea he already would have the requisite "experience" to be considered for promotion early.[1]
The capture of the French ship Immortalité (left) by the fifth-rate HMS Fisgard commanded by Martin (right)
Martin was promoted to captain on 5 November 1793 and given command of the fifth-rate HMS Modeste, a frigate recently captured from the French, and saw action in operations off Toulon at an early stage of the French Revolutionary Wars.[2] He went on to command the fifth-rate HMS Artois and saw action at the siege of Bastia in April 1794.[2] Martin was then transferred to the Channel Fleet and stationed off Ireland in HMS Santa Margarita, in which he captured the French frigate Tamise at the Atlantic raid of June 1796: in the engagement, Tamise was badly damaged and suffered heavy casualties while HMS Santa Margarita's losses were only two killed and three wounded.[1]
In December 1796, Martin was sent to the West Indies as captain of the fifth-rate HMS Tamar in which he captured nine privateers.[2] He then moved to the command of the third-rate HMS Dictator before taking over the newly captured fifth-rate HMS Fisgard.[2] On 20 October 1798 HMS Fisgard took part in a duel with the French ship Immortalité and captured her at the Battle of Tory Island.[2] Martin continued to be employed off the French coast, capturing merchant vessels, privateers and warships.[2]
Martin became Deputy Comptroller of the Navy in January 1815, advancing to full Comptroller of the Navy in February 1816, a position he maintained until November 1831 he was the last comptroller to hold the post in its original function.[5] In this role, Martin dominated naval strategy, reducing the fleet from the enormous size deployed against the French to a much more streamlined service geared toward protecting merchant trade and the British Empire.[1] He also focused heavily on employing highly trained dockyard staff capable of responding rapidly to any international emergency.[1] He was promoted to vice-admiral on 12 August 1819,[6] advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 3 March 1830[7] and promoted to full admiral on 22 July 1830.[8]
Martin's strong pro-Tory political views eventually caused his downfall, when he used his position in Parliament as member for Plymouth, for which he had been elected in July 1818,[9] to publicly criticise the new Whig government of Earl Grey in 1830.[1] Infuriated, Grey and Sir James Graham, who had become First Lord of the Admiralty that year, approached Martin's old friend King William IV for a solution, resulting in Martin's dismissal for insubordination in 1831.[10] In his later years he lived at No. 53 Wimpole Street in London.[11]
