| A fine late Victorian portrait of Lieutenant R. E. Martin of the Leicestershire Regiment in "Walking Out" dress. I have been unable to turn up any information regarding Martin's military service trough the usual searches of British archives which may be due to possibility that his career continued on past 1920. Records after that date are still closed. Recently I came across a few refernces to Martin in the Times of London and The London Gazette: Lieutenant, 1st Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment - September 190? Captain, 1st Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment - 16 July, 1902 Captain, 5th Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment - 25 September, 1908 Captain/Instructor of Musketry, 5th Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment - 10 June, 1910 Major, 5th Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment - 19 March, 1913 I have found reference to him serving during World War One with the 1/4th Battalion and 1/5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment at Ypres in 1915. He was second-in-command of the 1/5th and later assumed command of the 1/4th. Cabinet Photograph The Photographic Art Company - Photographer 92 Queens Road, Bayswater, W., England c. 1900's |
Martin is mentioned in the 1935 book Footprints of the 1/4th Leicestershire
Regiment - August 1914 to November 1918 by John Milne:
"He was a big man, but a thin man; he never looked very well and
probably never felt very well; he wore spectacles and a big fair moustache;
he spoke highbrow English in a high-pitched voice; he called a dead cow a
'vociferous heifer,' and a tin mug a 'drinking receptacle'; but he knew how
to build dug-outs; he understood the bonding of sandbags, he procured
timber from unlikely places and corrugated iron and tarred felt as if by
sleight of hand. He thought of everything and everybody except possibly
himself; he never appeared to be put out; he seldom 'straffed'; but he
expected much and his expectations were generally realised. He was the
best all-round soldier in the battalion, and the battalion knew it and only
got annoyed with him when he exposed himself to danger unnecessarily,
which was one of his habits."
The photo at left is from the book and shows Lieutenant-Colonel R. E.
Martin, C.M.G, T.D., D.L. c. 1915
Regiment - August 1914 to November 1918 by John Milne:
"He was a big man, but a thin man; he never looked very well and
probably never felt very well; he wore spectacles and a big fair moustache;
he spoke highbrow English in a high-pitched voice; he called a dead cow a
'vociferous heifer,' and a tin mug a 'drinking receptacle'; but he knew how
to build dug-outs; he understood the bonding of sandbags, he procured
timber from unlikely places and corrugated iron and tarred felt as if by
sleight of hand. He thought of everything and everybody except possibly
himself; he never appeared to be put out; he seldom 'straffed'; but he
expected much and his expectations were generally realised. He was the
best all-round soldier in the battalion, and the battalion knew it and only
got annoyed with him when he exposed himself to danger unnecessarily,
which was one of his habits."
The photo at left is from the book and shows Lieutenant-Colonel R. E.
Martin, C.M.G, T.D., D.L. c. 1915
| Lieutenant R. E. Martin in Patrol Jacket (Signed) Cabinet Photograph The Photographic Art Company - Photographer 92 Queens Road, Bayswater, W., England c. 1900's |
| Lieutenant R. E. Martin in Civilian Dress Cabinet Photograph Stilliard & Co. - Photographer Oxford, England c. 1900's |