AUTOGRAPH LETTER IN THE THIRD PERSON.

Descripción:

From a collection of recently acquired genuine autograph letters : a 12-LINE als in the third person to the Clerk at Marylebone Court House, saying that he is charged by the Parish for watering the road, but the dust in Wimpole Street is so great that he cannot open a window. Martin, Sir Thomas Byam (17731854), naval officer, born at Ashtead House, Surrey, on 25 July 1773, was the third surviving son of Sir Henry Martin, baronet (d. 1794), for many years naval commissioner at Portsmouth and afterwards comptroller of the navy, and his wife, Eliza Anne Gillman, née Parker, of Hilbrook, co. Cork. His father's half-brother, Samuel Martin (d. 1789), was treasurer to the dowager princess of Wales. Thomas was educated privately at Freshford, near Bath (1780), Southampton grammar school (1781), and Mr Coles's boarding-school in Guildford (17825). Through the influence of Henry Martin, and in accordance with the irregular custom of the day, Thomas, before he was eight, was entered on the books of the Canada (Captain William Cornwallis) in 178081; in 1782, of the Foudroyant (Captain Sir John Jervis); and in 1783, of the Orpheus (Captain George Campbell). He entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in August 1785. He first went afloat in April 1786, as 'captain's servant' on the Pegasus, with Prince William Henry (afterwards William IV), whom in March 1788 he followed to the Andromeda. He was afterwards for a few months in the Southampton, and on 22 November 1790 he was promoted lieutenant of the Canada. Despite his powerful patronage he still served afloat for four years before receiving his commission. For the next two years (from 1790/91) he served in the Inconstant and the Juno; and on 22 May 1793 he was promoted to command the Tisiphone, fitting out for the Mediterranean, where, on 5 November 1793, he was posted to the frigate Modeste which had been seized at Genoa by Admiral Gell only the month before. In 1795 Martin was appointed to the Santa Margarita, employed on the coast of Ireland, where he captured many privateers, and on 8 June 1796 he took the Tamise, a prize from the English two years before. She had now a heavier armament and more numerous crew; but against superior discipline, seamanship, and gun-training she was powerless and could kill only two and wound three on the Santa Margarita, while she herself lost thirty-two killed and nineteen wounded, several mortally. In 1797 Martin commanded the Tamar in the West Indies and in five months captured nine privateers with an aggregate of 58 guns and 519 men. In 1798 he returned to England in command of the Dictator; he was then appointed to the Fisgard, a powerful frigate captured from the French only the year before. On 20 October, off Brest, he fell in with, and after a sharp action captured, the Immortalité, sailing homeward from the destruction of Bompard's squadron on the coast of Ireland. In addition to her complement, the Immortalité had on board 250 soldiers, and her loss was consequently very great. Otherwise the two frigates were nearly equal in force, and the Fisgard's victory was considered one of the most brilliant frigate actions of the war. In 1798 Martin married Catherine, daughter of Captain Robert Fanshawe, for many years naval commissioner at Plymouth. They had three daughters and three sons, the eldest of whom was Sir William Fanshawe Martin, baronet (18011895). Their second son, Sir Henry Byam Martin, died an admiral in 1865; and the third, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Fanshawe Martin, died in 1846. For the next two years the Fisgard was employed actively off the coast of France under the orders of Sir John Warren and, in company with different ships of the squadron, captured or destroyed several warships, privateers, coasting craft, and batteries. From 1803 to 1805 Martin commanded the line-of-battle ship Impétueux in the channel and on 24 November 1804 helped save many lives from the wreck of HMS Venerable in Tor Bay, Devon. In 1807 he c. N° de ref. del artículo 25157

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