Commander Evelyn George Martin (22 March 1881 – 27 April 1945) was a British sailor, writer and cricketer. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, where he was awarded a cricket

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

, and served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was born in

Upton-on-Severn Upton-upon-Severn (or Upton on Severn, etc. and locally simply Upton) is a town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104 (formerly A440), the 2011 census recorded a population of 2,881 for the ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

Sailing

A 6' 7" tall bachelor of independent means with family connections to Martin's bank (merged with

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

in 1969), his interest in working boats under sail was kindled by his trips on

Brixham trawler A Brixham trawler is a type of wooden, deep-sea fishing trawler first built in Brixham in Devon, England, in the 19th century and known for its high speed. The design was copied by boat builders around Britain, and some were sold to fishermen ...

s. In 1923 he purchased the French pilot cutter

Jolie Brise ''Jolie Brise'' is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a ...

and sailed her to victory in the first

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after the Fastnet ...

of 1925. He was the founder and first

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

of the Ocean Racing Club (RORC), and later Admiral until he died. After selling Jolie Brise he worked

Thames barge A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narr ...

s on England's east coast. Martin wrote many articles for ''

Yachting World ''Yachting World'' is a monthly English language magazine published since 1894. Owned by Future plc, it features articles on sailing and yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Ya ...

'' and three books: ''Deep Water Cruising'' (1928); ''Sailorman'' (1933); ''Helmsmanship'' (1934). Martin died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Hadleigh, Suffolk Hadleigh () is an ancient market town and civil parish in South Suffolk, East Anglia, situated, next to the River Brett, between the larger towns of Sudbury and Ipswich. It had a population of 8,253 at the 2011 census. The headquarters of Bab ...

at the age of 64.

Cricket

Most of Martin's first-class appearances came for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, but he also played three games for

and one for H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI. Martin played a number of times for Eton, and in 1899 he took ten wickets in the match against Harrow at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. His first-class debut came in May 1903, for Oxford against Gentlemen of England at

The Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...

; he claimed five wickets in the match including that of centurion Bernard Bosanquet. In a total of ten first-class games that season he took 37 wickets at 19.18, including two for his first and only

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match, for Worcestershire against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. (He went wicketless against the

Gentlemen of Philadelphia The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, t ...

on his other appearance for the county that year.) In the next two seasons he played 15 first-class games, all for Oxford, and picked up 29 and 32 wickets respectively. This period included his best innings return: 7/81 against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

at Oxford's Christ Church ground in late May 1905. He appeared twice more in 1906, scoring his only first-class half-century in hitting 56 from number 11 in the

University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

(adding 90 for the last wicket with Wilfred Curwen), and in 1907 played two final matches, both ''against'' Oxford: once for Worcestershire, and once for H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI.

Notes

References

* * *Bryer, Robin (1982). ''Jolie Brise: A Tall Ship's Tale''. Seckler & Warburg. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Evelyn 1881 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from Worcestershire English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Oxford University cricketers Officers of the Order of the British Empire English male sailors (sport) People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford Royal Navy officers English non-fiction writers People from Upton-upon-Severn Blue Water Medal recipients English male non-fiction writers Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I English sailors H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers 20th-century English male writers Cricketers from Worcestershire