Captain Thomas Martin

Captain (later Admiral) Thomas Martin RN, of the Wilderness, Reigate, Surrey, owner-in-fee of a group of enslaved people on Donnington Castle estate in St Mary, Jamaica; the bulk of the compensation for the estate went to Sir William Wyndham Dalling (q.v.).

1. In 1833 a son was born to 'the lady of' Captain Thomas Martin RN of the Wilderness, Reigate Surrey. This must have been the Henry Richmond Martin son of Thomas Martin Captain and Ann Martin of Reigate Surrey who was baptised 04/12/1833 at St Mary Magdalene Reigate.

2. The naming of the son links the awardee Captain Thomas Martin RN of the Wilderness to the Captain Thomas Martin of the Royal Navy who appears as the heir of his mother Elizabeth Martin nee Hutchinson (relict of John Nickleson Martin), from whom Captain Thomas Martin inherited Catterlen in Cumberland c. 1836. Catterlen was originally in the Richmond family, members of whom intermarried with the Hutchinsons of Thomas Martin's mother.

3. Burke's Commoners shows 'Martin of the Wilderness': Thomas Martin of the Wilderness and of Stonfield in Cumberland, b. Devon 1787 son of John Nickleson Martin (himself the son of George Martin surgeon of St Thomas Hospital born Antigua and Mary Nickleson) m. Ann Miles daughter of John Miles of London and 3 sons (including Henry Richmond) and one daughter. His older brother John Nickleson Martin (1786-1824) died unmarried in Jamaica and his younger brother George King Martin (1791-1817) died unmarried in 'the island of St Vincents.' John Nickleson Martin, the second son of that name born (in 1839) to Thomas and Ann Martin was killed in India in 1857: his monument in All Souls Church Cawnpore describes his father as Admiral Martin.

4. The will of Thomas Martin of Bittern Lodge, South Stoneham county of Southampton who died 01/01/1868 was proved 28/11/1868 by widow Ann and son Thomas Hutchinson Mangles Martin, effects under £30,000.

5. A Captain Thomas Martin RN of Montpelier Lodge Brighton appears also in the 1846 subscription lists as an investor in the London Warwick, Leamington and Kidderminster railway. Whether this as the same man as the awardee of slave compensation is as yet unclear.

6. Unconnected with another Thomas Martin 'Captain in the East India Company's service claiming to be considered as belonging to the Invalids of the Bengal establishment of Boulogne-sur-mer France' whose will was proved 31/01/1848 and who was very probably the Captain Thomas Martin who was blinded in both eyes at Shamlie during the siege of Delhi in 1804.

T71/856 St Mary claim no. 409; Letter 22/11/1835 from Thomas Martin 'the Wilderness, Reigate, Surrey': 'Capt Thomas Martin RN will feel much obliged..the probable time of the settlement of his Claim.'

1. The Nautical Magazine Vol. 2 p. 687; Ancestry.com, London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database online]

2. The Gentleman's Magazine Vols. 160-161 (1838) p. 557.

3. Burke's A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Vol. 4 pp. 99-102.

4. National Probate Calendar 1868

5. 1846 Railway Subscription lists.

6. PROB 11/2068/15; John Philippart The East India military calendar (1826) Vol. 3 pp. 91-96; 1841 census online.