Lionel Martin

Lionel Walker Birch Martin (1878 – 21 October 1945) was an English businessman who co-founded the company that became Aston Martin. He was born at Nansladron at Pentewan near St Austell in Cornwall, 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, and who also owned the Lee Moor porcelain factory in Plympton. Martin Brothers, founded in 1837, became part of English China Clays. His mother was Elizabeth Emily Birch (born in 1851 in Salford), she had previously been married to Walter Braithwaite who died; her father was William Singleton Birch, who had founded chalk and lime merchants, Singleton Birch, later run by his uncle Thomas Birch. His parents had married on 26 April 1877 at Lillington, Warwickshire; he was baptised on 20 May 1878 at Lillington church. He grew up in Knightsbridge. In 1891 he went to Eton College. In 1897 he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was an enthusiast member of the Oxford University Bicycle Club, then joined the Bath Road Club (BRC) In 1900 he went to Marcon's Hall, also known as Charsley's Hall, run by Charles Abdy Marcon. He graduated with a BA in 1902. Through the Bath Road Club he met Montague Napier, 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. 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. During his driving ban he had become friends with another cyclist in the Bath Road Club, Robert Bamford. 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, including those from London to Edinburgh. Their first advert was in the Bath Road News. Their first prototype was registered in March 1915.