The Family of Frances Jane Avice KEITH
Biography of Robert Montgomery Martin
Martin, Robert Montgomery (1800–1868)
See "https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/18208" for details
Published in print & online: 23 September 2004
Martin, Robert Montgomery, author and civil servant, was born while his family were living at 106 Great Britain (afterwards Parnell)
Street, Dublin, the younger son of law agent John Martin (d. 1808) of Augher, co. Tyrone, and Mary Hawkins of Dublin. His father's
family were ‘loyal’ Ulster, Anglican protestants, his mother's well-to-do tradespeople. His life was dominated by a self-appointed
task—the study of the British empire, which Martin saw in terms of a vast free-trade area of new territories in allegiance to the
British crown. The early death of his father leaving him without support, Martin—the better to pursue his imperial concerns—trained
as a doctor, and then served in Ceylon and with the Owen expedition on the east coast of Africa (1820–24) as an assistant surgeon and
naturalist; in 1826 he arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, where he unsuccessfully sought official employment, before settling as a
surgeon in Parramatta. He moved to Calcutta in 1828 once again as a surgeon, but his fortuitous rescue of Dwarkanath Tagore brought
him into contact with Hindu reformers of the Brahmo Samaj, particularly Ram Mohan Roy, with whom he established, and for a short time
edited, the Bengal Herald (1829).
After returning to Ireland in 1830 Martin became associated with Daniel O'Connell and edited the repealist Irishman, but by 1833 the
protestant Martin had turned pro-union, publishing his Ireland as it Was, Is, and Ought to Be. The overseas empire was, however, always
in his mind, as evidenced in a lifetime of publication: in 1834–5 came his pioneering, five-volume History of the British Colonies,
followed by such related works as Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire (1839). In 1833 Martin published Taxation of
the British Empire; this was followed by studies of the poor laws and the hand-loom weavers. Influenced by his friend Edward S. Cayley MP,
with whom he edited the Agricultural and Industrial Magazine (1834–5), Martin was active in organizations concerned with economic and
social reform, particularly the Central Agricultural Society, whose journal, The Agriculturist, he co-edited in 1836. Consistent with
the principles of the Birmingham school, he advocated the establishment of colonial banks which would forge the financial links of
empire—in the case of the proposed Bank of Asia in defiance of Indian government policies (1840–43). Martin opposed repeal of the
corn laws and stood unsuccessfully as protectionist candidate in the 1846 by-election at Bridport, Dorset.
Martin's writings, though drawing on official sources, were influenced by his practical Christianity and by his association with
leading intellectuals. He was a founder member of the Statistical Society of London (1834), the Colonial Society (1837), and the
East India Association (1867). He opposed duelling, suttee, and slavery, advocated the abolition of flogging, and was active in the
work of the Aborigines Protection Society.
Martin sought patronage, but his contribution was questioned, particularly by the formidable Sir James Stephen, the permanent
under-secretary of the colonial department. Naïvely he allowed interviews with William IV and Princess Victoria (1832) to feed his
expectations. It was his work on Ireland and his assumed financial literacy which, in 1844, eventually led the colonial secretary,
Edward G. Stanley, to appoint Martin treasurer of Hong Kong. By then Martin, with his background as a publicist, was temperamentally
unqualified for a civil service position. His tenure was brief and controversial. Concluding that Hong Kong was unsuitable as a base
for British operations in the East, Martin left his post in 1845 to present his views to the government. This was considered an act of
resignation, a view which Martin contested, unsuccessfully, for three years, while publishing his own views in his British Position
and Prospects in China (1846) and China: Political, Commercial and Social (2 vols., 1847).
Martin's Irish background and Indian experiences brought him into contact with Marquess Wellesley, whose correspondence he edited (1836).
Martin subsequently embarked on a biography, which was never completed, of Arthur Wellesley, first duke of Wellington; however, as a
virtual private secretary to the second duke, he devoted some twelve years to collecting and collating material for the authoritative
Supplementary Despatches … [of the] Duke of Wellington (15 vols., 1858–72). Martin was concurrently publishing materials relevant to
his activities in the promotion of colonial steamship, mining, and banking ventures, as well as updated editions of his earlier works.
He continued, unsuccessfully, to propose projects to the colonial and foreign departments. His work with the second duke of Wellington
had, however, provided him with financial security, and in 1861 he was able to withdraw to Sutton, Surrey, where he served as justice
of the peace from 1863 to 1868.
In 1826 Martin had married Jane Avis Frances Keith (b. c.1808); the marriage was dissolved (10 Vict. c. 72) in 1847, thus enabling
him to marry Eliza Barron [see Phillips, Eliza (1822/-1916)], his solicitor's niece, on 11 November the same year. As Martin was
then in debt, his success in obtaining a private act of parliament must be ascribed to ‘access’ in the broadest sense rather than
to wealth. Martin died at Wellesley Lodge, Reigate Road, Sutton on 6 September 1868, and was buried at Sutton parish church.
At a time when some questioned the value of the empire, Martin was its spokesman. He favoured a reformed colonial policy and, as a
proprietor of the East India Company (1838–43), debated both at India House and through journal articles. But his lack of
financial backing and his tendency to rush to judgement were factors minimizing his effectiveness; the former led him to seek
ex post facto official recompense for activities freely entered into, the latter lost him support at key moments. Martin, however,
had a ready pen and his importance lies primarily in his chronicling of empire and his exposition of political and social issues,
particularly in the context of non-Ricardian economics. The very diversity of his activities and writings—267 printed works and 580
surviving unpublished letters and memoranda— underlines his significance.
Sources
• F. H. H. King, Survey our empire! Robert Montgomery Martin (1801?–1868), a bio-bibliography (1979)
• A. Seymour, ‘Robert Montgomery Martin: an introduction’, in R. M. Martin, History of the British colonies: possessions in Europe, 5: Gibraltar (1835) ; facs. edn(1998), i–xiv
• m. cert.
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Last updated: 26 July 2019
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