Introduction

Biography

Martin first served as or­gan­ist at Lam­bourn Church. He then stu­died un­der John Stain­er, or­gan­ist of Mag­da­len Col­lege, Ox­ford (to which he re­gu­lar­ly cy­cled the 22 miles from his home for les­sons).

Martin earned his BMus de­gree in 1871, and be­came or­gan­ist to the pri­vate cha­pel of the Duke of Bucc­leuch at Dal­keith, Mid­lo­thi­an, hold­ing the post—and that of or­gan­ist of St. John’s Ed­in­burgh—un­til 1874. He was then in­vit­ed by the Dean and Chap­ter of St. Paul’s to be the boys’ mu­sic mas­ter at the new cho­ral foun­da­tion at the ca­thed­ral.

In 1876, he suc­ceed­ed George Coop­er as sub-or­gan­ist at St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral, then Stain­er as or­gan­ist in 1888. He be­came Pro­fess­or of Or­gan at the Roy­al Col­lege of Mu­sic in 1883.

Queen Vic­tor­ia knight­ed him in 1897 when he di­rect­ed the mu­sic­al ar­range­ments at the great Thanks­giv­ing Ser­vice, held June 22 on the west steps of St. Paul’s, in ce­le­bra­tion of the 60th year of Vic­tor­ia’s reign.

Works

• The Art of Train­ing Choir Boys
• New Ca­thed­ral Psal­ter, with C. H. Lloyd and oth­ers
• New Ca­thed­ral Psal­ter Chant Book, St. Paul’s edi­tion