John Martyn (schoolmaster)

In 1935, John Martyn accompanied Arthur Foot to India to establish the teaching staff of The Doon School, a newly opened boarding school for Indian boys.[1][2] Martyn had previously taught at Harrow School in England for ten years before he moved to India.[3] In Doon, he was given the post of Deputy Headmaster, which he kept till 1948. Shortly after the British withdrawal from India in 1947, Foot left Dehradun to take up the headship of Ottershaw School, and Martyn succeeded him to become the second headmaster of the Doon School.[4] Martyn served in Doon for 31 years, 18 of those as the Headmaster, thus becoming one of the longest serving schoolmasters in the school's history.

Apart from teaching, Martyn was very keen on mountaineering, and was part of the expedition team to Trisul with pioneers like Jack Gibson, Gurdial Singh and Nandu Jayal.[5][6][7] He, along with Jack Gibson, climbed Bandarpunch with Tenzing Norgay, who later became the first man to climb Mount Everest.[8]

Martyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1958, and in 1983 Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, from the Government of India for his notable contributions to the establishment of the Doon School.[9] He was one of the few Englishmen to have been honoured by both the governments.[10] He was also a member of the famed Alpine Club.

After his death in 1984, his wife Mady Martyn wrote a book about him entitled Martyn Sahib, the story of John Martyn of the Doon School. In his honour, his wife and Martyn's friends set up John Martyn Memorial Trust in a village at the foothills of Himalayas called Salagaon. The trust runs a school for underprivileged children and provides free education to over 150 children.[11]

Martyn House, a holding-house for new students at Doon, was named after him.

• Role of The Doon School in Indian mountaineering

Notes

• Chhota Hazri Days: A Dosco's Yatra by Sanjiv Bathla, Rupa & Co., 2010 ISBN 978-81-291-1694-9.
• The Corporeal Image by David McDougall, Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-691-12156-7.
• Martyn Sahib, the story of John Martyn of the Doon School, by Mady Martin, University of California Press, 1985.
• For Hills To Climb by Gurdial Singh and Nalni Dhar, The Doon School Old Boys' Society, 2001.
• An Indian Englishman by Jack Gibson, Lulu Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4357-3461-6
• Doon, The Story of a School, IPSS (1985) edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985.
• Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School by Sanjay Srivastva, published by Routledge 1998 ISBN 0-203-98027-1.

• John Martyn Profile Page
• John Martyn Memorial Trust Website