The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Irving, Martin Howy
Irving, Martin Howy, M.A., one of the members of the Public Service Board of Victoria, is the son of the celebrated preacher Edward Irving, founder of the "Irvingites," and Isabella (Martin) his wife, and was born in 1831. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, in Nov. 1848, and became scholar of his college in the same year. He graduated B.A. in 1853, M.A. in 1856, and would doubtless have proceeded to a Fellowship but for the religious tests then imposed. He emigrated to Victoria, and was head master of Wesley College, Melbourne, till 1875, and Professor of Classics in the Melbourne University (of which he was made M.A. in 1867) for many years. When the control of the Civil Service was removed from the domain of politics and was placed in the hands of a permanent body under the title of the Public Service Board, Professor Irving was nominated one of the members (Feb. 1884). When it became necessary to elect a successor to the late Sir William Stawell as Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Irving was placed in nomination by his friends, and only failed of election by a single vote.