Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Robert Montgomery

by Charles Alexander Harris

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 he had then for ten years been continuously employed in the study of colonial questions, and had in that time 'printed and published fifty thousand volumes on India and the colonies, at a cost of 10,000l., without aid from the government or any individual,'

On 5 Dec. 1837 he presented a petition to the House of Commons for an amended colonial administrative department, and in 1839, as a member of the court of the East India Company, he was active in promoting the appointment of the commission which sat in 1840 upon the East Indian trade. Martin was a prominent witness. In 1843 he worked in Ireland on his 'Ireland and the Union.'

His energy was rewarded in January 1844 by his appointment to the office of treasurer of the newly acquired island of Hongkong, where he was also a member of the legislative council. Here he preferred to pursue his literary labours, rather to the neglect of his official duties, and his health was unsatisfactory. In May 1845 he differed from the governor on the question of raising a revenue from opium, and, being refused six months' leave, resigned in July 1845. In his reports he insisted that Hongkong was as a British colony doomed to failure.

After making several unsuccessful efforts to induce the secretary of state to reinstate him, Martin appears to have settled down to a literary life near London. But in 1851 he went to Jamaica on a mission to report on the affairs of two mining companies operating in that colony. He was one of the original members of the East India Association, founded in 1866. He died at Wellesley Lodge, Sutton, Surrey, on 6 Sept. 1868.

His chief works were:

1. 'The History of the British Colonies,' 5 vols., completed in 1831 (but not published till 1834).
2. 'Political, Commercial, and Financial Condition of the Anglo-Eastern Empire,' 1832.
3. 'British Relations with the Chinese Empire,' 1832.
4. 'Analysis of the Parliamentary Evidence on the China Trade,' 1832.
5. 'Ireland as it was, is, and ought to be,' 1833.
6. 'Past and Present State of the Tea Trade,' 1833.
7. 'East and West India Sugar Duties,' 1833.
8. 'Poor Laws for Ireland, a Measure of Justice for England,' 1833.
9. 'Taxation of the British Empire,' 1833-4.
10. 'Analysis of Parliamentary Evidence on the Handloom Weavers,' 1834-5.
11. 'The Marquis of Wellesley's Indian Despatches,' 5 vols. 1830.
12. 'Analysis of the Bible' (afterwards translated into' the Chinese), 1836.
13. 'The British Colonial Library,' 10 vols, (a new edition of the 'History of the British Colonies'), 1837.
14. 'The Colonial Policy of the British Empire,' pt. i. Government, 1837.
15. 'History of the Antiquities of Eastern India,' 3 vols. 1838.
16. 'The Statistics of the British Colonies,' 1839.
17. 'The Marquis of Wellesley's Spanish Despatches,' 1840.
18. 'The Monetary System of British India,' 1841.
19. 'Ireland before and after the Union,' 1844; 2nd edit, in 1848.
20. 'Steam Navigation with Australia,' 1847.
21. 'China, Political, Commercial, and Social,' 2 vols. 1847.
22. 'Free Trade in Sugar,' 1848.
23. 'The Hudson's Bay Territories and Vancouver's Island,' 1849.
24. 'The Indian Empire '(richly illustrated), 5 vols. 1857.
25. 'The Rise and ^Progress of the Indian Mutiny,' 1859.
26. 'Sovereigns of the Coorg' (pamphlet), 1867.

[Martin's evidence before the parliamentary committee on East India trade, 1840; his petition and the correspondence presented to parliament in 1847; an interesting letter in the Record Office, 1825; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. iii. 408, 477; his Works; private inquiry]

C. A. H.