The Rev. William Keble Martin (9 July 1877,
Radley
Radley is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about northeast of the centre of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Lower Radley on the River Thames. It was part of B ...
– 26 November 1969,
Woodbury Woodbury may refer to:
Geography
Antarctica
*Woodbury Glacier, a glacier on Graham Land, British Antarctic Territory
Australia
* Woodbury, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
England
* Woodbury, Bournemouth, an area in Dorset
*Woodbury, East Devo ...
) was a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
,
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
and
botanical illustrator
Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...
, known for his ''Concise British Flora in Colour''.
The ''Concise British Flora'' was published in May 1965 when the author was 88. The book was the result of 60 years' meticulous fieldwork and exquisite painting skills, and became an immediate best-seller. He completed over 1,400 paintings in colour and many black-and-white drawings before the book was finally published.
Life and work
Keble Martin was the grandson of Dr
George Moberly
George Moberly (10 October 1803 – 6 July 1885) was an English cleric who was headmaster of Winchester College, and then served as Bishop of Salisbury from 1869 until his death.
Life
He was born in St Petersburg, Russia in 1803, the seventh s ...
, headmaster of
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
and later
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...
. He was brother to architect Arthur Campbell Martin CVO FRIBA (1875–1963) and was also connected to
John Keble
John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, was named after him.
Early life
Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...
of the
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
. His father was appointed as the Rector of
Dartington
Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington H ...
, near Totnes, when William was 14 years old.
He was educated at
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
, and went up to
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
in 1896 to read Greek Philosophy and Botany. He trained for the church at
Cuddesdon Theological College
Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay min ...
. After ordination, he worked in industrial parishes in the north and Midlands (one of these was
Wath-upon-Dearne
Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster. It had a pop ...
, the subject of his first book) and, in the First World War, as a
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
in France. In 1921 he was offered the benefice of
Haccombe
Haccombe is a hamlet, former parish and historic manor in Devon, situated 2 1/2 miles east of Newton Abbot, in the south of the county. It is possibly the smallest parish in England, and was said in 1810 to be remarkable for containing only two ...
and
Coffinswell
Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon, England, just off the A380 road, A380, the busy Newton Abbot to Torquay road. It lies within Teignbridge District Council.
Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman archi ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
and in 1934 became the incumbent of
St Michael and All Angels,
Great Torrington
Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...
. (He was the
Archpriest
The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...
of Haccombe and Rector of Coffinswell.) Keble Martin saw a vision of a new church in a dream, and his brother architect transformed the dream into reality - now a listed building, St Luke the Evangelist Church at
Milber
Milber is a housing estate at considered part of the town of Newton Abbot in south Devon. It is on the opposite side of the A380 road from the town centre. Milber contains mainly houses, but also a trading estate and some shops. The estate is pa ...
,
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...
is remarkable for its exceptional interior space and extraordinary plan with three angled naves, linked by arcades with granite columns, which converge on the central altar. The exterior walls are white render with a pyramidal copper-clad roof on a squat square tower. Keble Martin retired in 1949 at the age of 72, but continued to work in the church.
He was elected a Fellow of the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
in 1928, and later edited with G. T. Fraser the first volume of a comprehensive ''Flora of Devon'' (1939). In June 1966 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from
Exeter University
, mottoeng = "We Follow the Light"
, established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter)
, type = Public
, ...
. Four of his designs for an issue of wild flower stamps were accepted by the
Royal Mail
, kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
and issued in April 1967. He published his autobiography, ''Over the Hills'', shortly before he died in 1969 at the age of 92 at
Woodbury Woodbury may refer to:
Geography
Antarctica
*Woodbury Glacier, a glacier on Graham Land, British Antarctic Territory
Australia
* Woodbury, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
England
* Woodbury, Bournemouth, an area in Dorset
*Woodbury, East Devo ...
.
Family life
William Keble Martin married twice: in 1909 Violet Chaworth-Musters (d. 1963) and then in 1965 Florence Lewis. His children were three daughters and two sons.
[Martin (1968) Over the Hills]
Bibliography of Martin's published work
*''A History of the Ancient Parish of Wath-upon-Dearne'' Wath-upon-Dearne: W. E. Farthing (1920)
*W. Keble Martin & Fraser, Gordon Travers (eds.) ''Flora of Devon''
ol. 1
OL may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band
* Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero
Businesses and organizations
* OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...
Phanerogams, vascular Cryptogams, Charophyta: promoted by the Devonshire Association; edited by ... W. Keble Martin ... Gordon T. Fraser ... With the assistance of ... Thomas Stephenson ... Francis M. Day. Arbroath: T. Buncle & Co. (1939)
*''The Concise British Flora in Colour''; with nomenclature edited by Douglas H. Kent and foreword by
The Duke of Edinburgh. London:
Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...
/
Michael Joseph (1965)
**The 2nd edition of the ''Flora'' was published in 1969: from 1965 to 1978 12 impressions were issued altogether of the three editions.
** ------ with nomenclature edited and revised by Douglas H. Kent, 3rd ed. Ebury Press, 1974
*''Over The Hills----'' (autobiography), London: Michael Joseph (1968)
*''The New Concise British Flora''; with nomenclature edited and revised by Douglas H. Kent and foreword by
The Duke of Edinburgh. London: Book Club Associates by arrangement with
Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...
/
Michael Joseph (1982)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, William Keble
British nature writers
1877 births
1969 deaths
Botanical illustrators
British botanists
Clergy from Devon
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
People educated at Marlborough College
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon
20th-century English Anglican priests
World War I chaplains
Royal Army Chaplains' Department officers
20th-century British painters
British male painters
Scientists from Devon