Adventurer

Antonio Martin was born in Marsa to Maltese mother Maria. James’s father, a seaman is believed to have emigrated from Italy in his youth. His name was changed to the English ‘James Martin’ after he left Malta and began working on British ships. 

He was a highly intelligent child, but he was dyslexic, and as a small child he attended the local skola tan-nuna, and his family was too poor to provide private tuition, and the last time James attended school was when he was seven years old. He learned languages rapidly and ended up speaking a wide variety of them – something which would enable him to learn the dialects of East Africa.

James’s first job was as an apprentice to a sailmaker. He enrolled as a seaman, aged just 16. It was the sinking of the ship on which he was serving off the coast of East Africa that was to determine much of the rest of his life. He was picked up by HMS London and taken to Aden. He resumed his travels and later made his way to Zanzibar.

It was here that James Martin started his career helping British colonisers with their exploration of Kenya. His first experience was in Bombasa, Kenya’s main port, where he bagan to gather what was to become a huge mass of knowledge about the tribes of the region, and he learned a number of language spoken by the people there.

It was on one of his visits to Zanzibar that Martin met Joseph Thomson, the geologist and explorer. Towards the end of 1883 Martin and Thomson paid a visit to the Luo tribe and most probably they were the first white men the tribe had ever seen.

Precisely one year later, in 1884, Hussein Onygango Obama was born to the Luo tribe. His would be the first generation to take advantage of the opportunities these white men brought with them, and it was as a direct result of the educational possibilities thereby created that Onyango’s grandson, just over a century later, would be sworn in as the forty-four president of the United States of America on 20 January 2009. Only two generations of the family separated the first steps of white men among the Luo and a descendant of the Luo becoming leader of the most powerful country in the world.

Martin was also the founder of Nairobi, and prior to 1896 the place was known simply as Martin’s camp. It was in September 1896 that the place was first called ‘Nairobi’.

In Mombasa, Martin was asked to accompany geologist and explorer Joseph Thomson on a long safari through the land of the Maasai people, with the aim to open a direct route from Mombasa to Uganda. He proved himself so well during this 16-month long safari, that he made a name for himself. This led to his being appointed safari leader on a number of occasions, including hunting safaris by British game hunters.

The British protectorate over much of Kenya and part of Uganda became official in 1895. Martin joined the government of Uganda, serving as transport officer and even district officer of the Uganda Administration for several years. Inevitable, educated people around him realised his shortcomings, and they let him see that they knew. However Martin kept them in good humour with his generous parties and receptions in his house at Eldama Ravine, where he was then established.

Meanwhile James Martin had fallen in love with the daughter of the local doctor, the Portuguese Maria Augusta Elvira de Souza, and he married her in 1896, and they had a daughter.

At this time the great railway line was being built to open up East Africa. James’s task was the recruitment of local labour.

The new century brought a new style of colonial administration to East Africa. In 1907 he realised that he could not remain in his beloved Africa any longer, and soon after the war he and his wife left for Lisbon. James Martin died in 1925 and was buried in Lisbon.

According to the author of Martin James’s biography, ‘His African friends did not forget him and seem to have paid him the ultimate compliment of naming their children after him.

There is evidence of at least a Kenyan from the Kisumu/Luo region, born in 1975, who bears the name of ‘James Martin’.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.

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