The following obituary was written by David Robins and George Gilbart-Smith

Born in 1937 in Watford, Martin spent his youth in Surrey and became a pupil at St John's School, Leatherhead, before going on to read Philosophy and Theology at Pembroke College, Oxford. He won an athletics Blue for the 110 yards hurdles, subsequently having an Olympic trial. After Oxford, Martin went on to National Service, serving in Korea and Japan as part of the Commonwealth forces. Theological college in Lincoln was followed by ordination in Durham Cathedral and a curacy in the northeast of England. He was appointed Chaplain to Tonbridge School by Michael McCrum in April 1969.

The late 1960s was a very difficult time to be a School Chaplain. Traditional ways of belief and behaviour were being questioned from within the Church as well as from without. The new morality was taking hold, and authority of all kinds was widely resented, especially by teenagers. Martin's situation was made harder still, as under his predecessor a new pattern of weekly worship had been devised and had only been running for a year when he arrived. So he found himself working a system which many were already finding not wholly satisfactory and which he had had no part in creating. In particular, the School had opted to continue compulsory Chapel for all pupils when many comparable schools had decided to make it voluntary. This included not only compulsory Sunday worship, but also an intricate pattern of weekday assemblies.

So it is considerably to Martin's credit that he managed to maintain the new system, adapting it gradually to meet changing demands and emerging difficulties. In this he was assisted by a forward-thinking Second Chaplain in Edward Turner and an imaginative Director of Music in John Cullen. But his success was mainly due to the strength of his own character, resolution and faith. This was also evident in his vigorous promotion of Divinity teaching in the classroom. Martin saw himself as Chaplain to the whole School community, equally at home with colleagues and their families, boys and support staff. He was active as a rugby and hockey coach, and further developed the Community Service Group.

Martin and Venetia married in 1973 and had two boys; Matthew and Willliam, who survive him. Martin was a delightful person with a great love of people. Whatever the situation, he was calm, understanding, compassionate and reassuring; he always exuded an infectious sense of peace and security. Despite the immense stresses of his job, he never seemed upset or angry. Nor did he have a bad word to say about anyone. As well as winning him enormous respect, these character traits made him an almost impossible person to oppose or argue with and proved him to be very much the right person for the School to have as Chaplain at that time. He left Tonbridge in July 1983 to become deputy Head and Chaplain at St John’s School Leatherhead. Retiring from education he became Rector of Herstmonceux, and finally moved to Dorset where he spent many happy hours fly-fishing.