Lionel Walker Birch Martin (1878 – 21 October 1945) was an English businessman who co-founded the company that became
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
.
Early life
He was born at Nansladron at
Pentewan
Pentewan ( kw, Bentewyn, meaning ''foot of the radiant stream'') is a coastal village and former port in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at south of St Austell at the mouth of the St Austell River.
Pentewan is in ...
near
St Austell
St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon.
St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958.
History
St Austell wa ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, and was an only child. His father was Edward Martin (born in 1843), the owner of Martin Brothers China Clay Merchants in St Austell, who lived at
Treverbyn
Treverbyn is a civil parish and village in mid-Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The church of St Peter is modern as the medieval chapel was closed at the time of the Reformation. The parish was formed from part of St Austell parish in 1847. ...
, and who also owned the Lee Moor porcelain factory in
Plympton
Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Plym ...
. Martin Brothers, founded in 1837, became part of
English China Clays
English China Clays PLC, or ECC, was a mining company involved in the extraction of china clay, based in St Austell, Cornwall. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 1999 was acquired by Imetal.
History
English China Clays was i ...
.
His mother was Elizabeth Emily Birch (born in 1851 in Manchester), who had also been married previously to Walter Braithwaite who died, and she came from
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
, and her family were wealthy chalk and lime merchants; her father was William Singleton Birch, who had founded
Singleton Birch, later run by his uncle Thomas Birch. His parents had married on 26 April 1877 at
Lillington, Warwickshire
Lillington is a suburb of Leamington Spa, in the civil parish of Royal Leamington Spa, in the Warwick District in the county of Warwickshire, England. Historically a village which existed before the time of the ''Domesday Book'' (1086), it was inc ...
; he was baptised on 20 May 1878 at Lillington church. He grew up in
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End.
...
.
In 1891 he went to
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
. In 1897 he went to
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...
, where he was an enthusiast member of the
Oxford University Bicycle Club, then joined the
Bath Road Club. In 1900 he went to Marcon's Hall, also known as
Charsley's Hall
Charsley's Hall was a private hall of the University of Oxford. After 1891 it was renamed as Marcon's Hall.
The hall was established in 1862 by William Henry Charsley, formerly of Christ Church, under the university statute ''De Aulis Priva ...
, run by
Charles Abdy Marcon
Charles Abdy Marcon (22 September 1853 – 7 February 1953) was an English clergyman, Master of Marcon's Hall, a private hall of Oxford University, from 1891 to 1918, then from 1918 Vicar of Kennington in south London.
Early life
Marcon was the ...
. He graduated with a BA in 1902.
Career
Through the Bath Road Club (BRC) he met
Montague Napier
Montague Stanley Napier (14 April 1870 – 22 January 1931) was an English automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer. His grandfather, David Napier (1785–1873), had moved to London from Scotland and by 1836 had established an engineering comp ...
, and in 1903 went into partnership with Napier to sell cars.
In 1909 after not paying a fine, he was banned from driving for two years at
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
. He appealed at the High Court in January 1910, but the appeal was not upheld. For the next two years he rode bicycles, gaining the fastest record from Edinburgh to York in 1911.
Aston Martin
![The Origin of the Aston Martin Car - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/The_Origin_of_the_Aston_Martin_Car_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1262861.jpg)
During his driving ban he had become friends with another cyclist in the Bath Road Club,
Robert Bamford
Robert Bamford (16 June 1883 – 16 April 1942) was an English engineer, who with Lionel Martin (1878–1945), founded a company in January 1913 that became Aston Martin. Before his career in the car industry he was active as a racing cyclist.
...
. In 1912 they began to sell cars together. They co-founded Bamford and Martin Limited, at Henniker Mews in Kensington. Martin participated in competitions of the
Motor Cycling Club
The Motor Cycling Club (MCC) is a British motorsports and Motorcycle sport club formed in 1901. It is the second oldest motorcycle club in Great Britain. It is a member of both the Motor Sports Association (cars) and Auto-Cycle Union (bikes). It ...
, including those from London to Edinburgh. Their first advert was in the ''Bath Road News''.
Their first prototype was registered in March 1915. To provide an evocative name for the car, the pair remembered their races at
Aston Hill, and called the car the ''Aston-Martin''; the ''AM'' radiator badge went onto their cars.
It was through the money from the Singleton Birch family minerals company Martin had the funds to expand his business.
Singleton Birch
/ref>
In November 1925, Bamford and Martin Ltd went into receivership, and Martin was no longer a director of the company. At this time, Martin was working for Singleton Birch. After 1925,he never owned an Aston Martin car.
Personal life
In 1909, Martin married Christine Murray (born 1888) of Auchendinny
Auchendinny (Scottish Gaelic: Achadh an t-Sionnaich, meaning field of the fox) is a small village in Glencorse near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The village had a paper mill at Dalmore, until its closure in 2005. This was Midlothian's last r ...
in Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
; Christine died in April 1913, shortly after the birth of their son (born 19 March 1913). Martin then married Katherine King (born 14 July 1888) on 25 January 1917 in Kensington.
In the 1920s he lived in Pembroke Villas in Kensington. In his later years he was a diabetic
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased app ...
.
Due to petrol rationing in the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he returned to travelling on his bicycle; on 14 October 1945 he was knocked off at a set of traffic lights on Gloucester Road near his home, dying aged 67 in Kingston County Hospital on 21 October 1945. He had lived from 1932 at Palings Cottage on Warboys Road at Kingston Hill, in the Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe
Malden and Coombe was a local government district in Surrey, England from 1866 to 1965.
New Malden Local Government District was formed in 1866 under the Local Government Act 1858 from part of the ancient parish of Kingston upon Thames. It was ...
. His funeral was at 3pm on Monday 29 October 1945 at St. John the Baptist in Kingston Vale. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938. ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lionel
1878 births
1945 deaths
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Alumni of Charsley's Hall, Oxford
Aston Martin
British male cyclists
British founders of automobile manufacturers
British racing drivers
Cycling road incident deaths
People educated at Eton College
People from Kensington
People from Kingston upon Thames
People from St Ewe
Road incident deaths in England