William Martin (1767 – 31 May 1810) was an English naturalist and palaeontologist who proposed that science should use
fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
as evidence to support the study of
natural history.
[ Martin published the first colour pictures of fossils and the first scientific study of fossils in English.
]
Biography
Martin was born in Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
in 1767. His father worked in the hosiery business, but he left to become an actor in Ireland with the stage name of Joseph Booth. His father was also an inventor and portrait painter who died in London in 1797.[H. S. Torrens, 'Martin, William (1767–1810)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 13 Feb 2011
/ref> Martin's abandoned mother, who was born Mallatratt, was also an actress.
Whilst still a child he appeared on the stage, both as a five-year-old dancer, and later giving recitations. It was arranged for Martin to learn draughtsmanship from James Bolton
James Bolton (1735 – 7 January 1799) was an English naturalist, botanist, mycologist, and illustrator.
Background
James Bolton was born near Warley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1735, the son of William Bolton, a weaver. James in ...
in Halifax. From 1782 to 1785 he was with a Derbyshire acting troupe when he met White Watson with whom he was to collaborate in a work on Derbyshire fossils. His work with fossils and natural history eventually led to Martin being elected a fellow of the Linnaean 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 ...
. Like Watson, Martin was influenced by the work of Derbyshire geologist, John Whitehurst
John Whitehurst FRS (10 April 1713 – 18 February 1788), born in Cheshire, England, was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology. He was an influential member of the Lunar Society.
Life and work
Whit ...
. Whitehurst had published ''An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth'' in 1778 which contained an important appendix which concerned ''General Observations on the Strata in Derbyshire''. However, it was Abraham Mills FRS who switched Martin from zoology to palaeontology at some time before 1789. Martin published ''Figures and Descriptions of Petrifications collected in Derbyshire'' in 1793.[
]
Martin worked with White Watson to create joint publications, but the partnership did not work well with Watson claiming that he was not receiving sufficient credit. Martin later published some of Watson's work on fossils using only his own name and without giving credit to Watson. Martin had six children with his "unfortunate, but interesting" wife who, like his parents, had been on the stage before her second marriage to Martin in 1797. In 1798 their son William Charles Linnaeus Martin
William Charles Linnaeus Martin (1798–1864) was an English naturalist.
Biography
William Charles Linnaeus Martin was the son of William Martin (naturalist) and his wife, Mary. William Martin had published early colour books on the fossil ...
was born. He was given the name Linnaeus in honour of Martin's interest in the classification of living things. His son was to write numerous books on natural history after becoming the scientific officer to the Zoological Society.
Martin was employed as a writing teacher, initially working at Burton-on-Trent in 1798, then in Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level. . Finally, in 1805, he moved to Macclesfield, where he taught at Macclesfield Grammar School. Martin's interest in nature did not diminish and he would send artefacts to James Sowerby
James Sowerby (21 March 1757 – 25 October 1822) was an English naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'' or ''English Botany'', include his detailed and app ...
who would illustrate them for him.
Martin did some provincial acting until 1809, and he owned a quarter share in Buxton Theatre. In 1809 he published ''Petrifacta Derbiensia'', which he dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...
. ''Petrifacta Derbiensia'' contained illustrations, the first in colour, which helped Martin describe the fossils and Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
he had studied in Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. Identification was still uncertain. The horn coral
The rugosa, also called the tetracorallia or horn coral, are an extinct order of solitary and colonial corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician to Late Permian seas.
Solitary rugosans (e.g., '' Caninia'', '' Lophophyllidium'', '' Neoza ...
, illustrated here, was thought to possibly be from a type of undiscovered bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
.
''Petrifacta Derbiensia'' records another fossil which Martin considered a type of straightened Nautilus
The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
It comprises six living species in t ...
. He recounts that White Watson's uncle and workers at the Ashford Black Marble
Ashford Black Marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire, England. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Ashford Black Marble is a very fine- ...
quarry called some of the fossils "crocodile tails" as they had been thought to be the remains of a small crocodile tail. Martin thought that none of the fossils in the book were the remains of crocodiles.
Martin also published ''Outlines of an Attempt to establish a Knowledge of Extraneous Fossils on Scientific Principles'' in 1809. Martin had published the first scientific study of fossils and palaeontology in English, and he met John Farey to discuss the possibility of a joint effort to create a geological map of Derbyshire. Martin's consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
, however, prevented further planning, and he died in Macclesfield at the end of May 1810. He was buried in Christ Church, Macclesfield and a collection was required to care for his children and his mother.
Legacy
Martin's work with brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s was honoured in 1844 when the genus '' Martinia'' was named after him. Seven years later he was again remembered when the Derbyshire fossil coral '' Lithostrotion martini'' was named. Martin's work and biography is described in the minerals section of Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collect ...
.[Derby Museum Minerals section, William Martin display, viewed May 2011]
References
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, William
English naturalists
1767 births
1810 deaths
People from Mansfield
English palaeontologists