Henry Robert Charles Martin

Born at Maskeliya, Ceylon, the eldest son of Henry Thomas Martin, later of South Kensington,[1] Martin was educated at Bedford School, then at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in 1912. He represented England as a badminton player.[2] During the First World War, he served as a Captain in the East Lancashire Regiment, and in the Intelligence Department from 1938-41.[3] His first heraldic appointment came on 31 May 1922 when he was made Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary to replace Archibald George Blomefield Russell.[4] He held this position until 2 August 1928 when he was promoted to the office of Richmond Herald of Arms in Ordinary to replace Gerald Wollaston.[5] Martin was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1930. He held this office until his death from heart failure on 23 July 1942.[6][7]

In 1914, Martin had married Mary Gladys, daughter of the Rev. John Whitby St Quintin, M.A., rector of Hatley St George, Cambridge; they had three daughters: Diana, Pamela (who married, in 1936, John Maitland Cowper, of Barclays Bank),[8][9] and June.[10][11]

Martin's coat of arms, awarded 1926, was: Argent, 2 bars & 6 escallops in orle gules. Crest: From an Eastern crown or a horse's head sable, mane or, charged on the neck with a scallop or. Motto: Mediocria Maxima. Badge: A scallop reversed gules charged with a martlet or.[12]

He was part of the English team that toured Canada in 1925 to promote the sport on behalf of the Canadian Badminton Association which had recently been formed in 1921.[13][14] He lived in Earls Terrace London at the time.

• Heraldry
• Pursuivant
• Herald