Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/299

Martin emigrated to Canada in 1833 and founded a family there.

Martin was widely known for his love of animals and for his readiness in duelling. In spite of considerable opposition from such men as Canning and Peel, he succeeded in carrying into law an act ‘to prevent the cruel and improper treatment of cattle’ (3 Geo. IV, cap. 71), ‘the first modern enactment in Great Britain for protecting the rights of animals;’ it received the royal assent on 22 July 1822, and was amended in 1835. While in London he brought before the magistrates every case which he thought to come within its provisions. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1824), and his half-length portrait, the gift of Mrs. Ratcliffe Chambers, hangs in the society's board-room in Jermyn Street, London. He laboured strenuously to abolish the punishment of death for forgery, and brought in a bill to allow counsel to prisoners charged with capital crimes. His own account of his duels with ‘Fighting Fitzgerald’ and with Eustace Stowell are printed in Sir Jonah Barrington's ‘Personal Sketches’ (1869), ii. 264–73, 296–8. His benevolence was unbounded, and his memory is still revered in Galway. He is said to have been the original of Godfrey O'Malley, uncle of the hero in Lever's ‘Charles O'Malley.’ He twice declined an offer of a peerage.

Martin's only surviving son by his first wife,, of Ballinahinch, who sat for Galway county from 1832 to 1847, broke the entail for the sake of his only child, Mary Letitia Martin [q. v.], and the property was mortgaged to the Law Life Assurance Society. In the famine years the rents were not paid, and he died on 23 April 1847 of famine fever, caught when visiting his tenants in the Clifden workhouse. The insurance society soon took possession, and the estates, said then to consist of 197,000 acres, were sold under the Encumbered Estates Act for very inadequate prices.

Martin's eldest daughter by his second wife, (1801–1891), was born in London on 5 July 1801, and died at Dublin on 12 Jan. 1891. When staying in Paris with John Banim and his wife, she wrote a tale entitled ‘Canvassing,’ which was appended to Michael Banim's novel of ‘The Mayor of Windgap,’ 1835. Emboldened by the success of this venture, she published in 1848 a novel called ‘The Changeling, a Tale of the Year '47.’ Miss Martin was an accomplished linguist, and had travelled much in Europe and America.  MARTIN, ROBERT MONTGOMERY (1803?–1808), historical writer and statistician, is said to have been born in co. Tyrone, Ireland, about 1803, and to have been one of a very large and respectable family, he himself refers to his having studied medicine, but where does not appear, and a careful search renders it probable that he took no diploma. About 1820 he went out to Ceylon, where he ' lived under the patronage of Sir Hardinge Giffard, his father's friend,' exploring the island thoroughly, according to his own account ; thence he travelled to the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived in June 1823, and joined the expedition of his majesty's ships Leven and Barracouta to Delagoa Bay in a temporary capacity as assistant surgeon, serving as such and as botanist and naturalist 'on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, and the South-Eastern Islands.' On 10 Nov. 1824 he left it at Mombassa, and by way of Mauritius made his way back to the Cape. Later he went to New South Wales, and returned to India about the end of 1 828, to reside there for over a year before his return to England in 1830. Much of this time must have been spent in the preparation of his great work, 'The History of the British Colonies,' for in 1831 it was completed, and although 'unknown to and unknowing an individual,' he obtained an introduction to the king, and on showing his book, received the king's permission to dedicate it to him. But owing to the unwillingness of any publisher to undertake it, it did not appear till 1834. Meanwhile he had been busily occupied with other literary work. Lord Wellesley entrusted him with the preparation of his papers for publication. For some months in 1833-4 he was engaged on the 'Taxation of the British Empire,' working chiefly in the library of the House of Commons. He next turned to the records of the India House, and brought out his' History of the Antiquities of Eastern India' in 1838. In the same year he was assigned an office in Downing Street, and in the course of a year brought out his work on the 'Statistics of the Colonies,' compiled from official sources, but without official aid. In 1840 he founded and for two years edited the 'Colonial Magazine.' According to his own account in 1840 