Victor Emanuel Martin was born in London and spent his early years there. After his father’s premature death in 1898 he moved to Ilford before arriving in Chelmsford around 1912 where he worked as an engineer. Marriage soon followed as did two children. He landed in France within two weeks of the outbreak of war and was killed in action in November 1914. His mother lived in Mll Road.
MARTIN, VICTOR EMANUEL,
Lance Corporal, 1st Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment)
On 17th October 1902 Victor, along with 400 other men in his battalion was sent to Egypt. One family anecdote suggests he won the regimental boxing and bayonet competitions.
In 1904 the battalion was posted to Dublin from wjhere a draft was sent in the autumn of 1905 to join the regiment's 2nd Battalion, then in Egypt. Similar drafts followed in February and October 1906
The 1st Battalion returned to Britain in 1910, when presumabkly he was demobbed from the regulars to the army reserve.
The 1911 census listed Victor, aged 23, living with his widowed mother (this time recorded as ‘Ella’), four brothers, a sister and a border at 4 Corbett Terrace in Ilford, Essex. Victor was a carman. His brother Edward was a milk seller; brother Leopold was a self-employed musician. while brothers George and Ernest were both clerks. His sister Edith was a waitress. The family is thought to have gone to live in the Ilford area after thedeath of Victor’s father as that was where Victor’s mother’s sister lived.
By 1912 the family had moved to Chelmsford.
Recorded as then being aged 26, Victor married Emily Mary Brooks on 15th July 1912 at St. Mary’s Church, Chelmsford (the modern-day Cathedral). At the time he was an engineer living at 1 Mill Road, Chelmsford (now demolished), and probably working for Marconi’s. His bride, who also lived at the same address, was the daughter of James Brooks, a carpenter and had been born in Shepherd’s Bush, Middlesex c1894 and in 1911 had been living with her family at 29 Pelham Road in Ilford.
Victor and Emily had two sons: Victor Emanuel Martin (born on 8th April 1913 at 1 Mill Road; died in 1998), and Walter William Martin (born on 30th June 1914). Victor’s brother Leopold had married Emily Mary Brooks’ elder sister Gertrude the previous year in Ilford.
In September 1913 Victor’s mother married Alfred Charles Howard, at the time giving her address as 1 Mill Road. The photograph shows Victor, on the right and in uniform, his mother and step-father. It is thought to have been taken around the time of the start of the war.
By the end of June 1914 Victor and his wife were living in Ilford near his mother’s relatives.
When Victor enlisted at New Cross, Surrey he lived in Ilford. He served with the 1st Battalion of Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment), which was at Mandorra Barracks, Aldershot at the outbreak of the war on 4th August 1914, but soon moved to France. Victor entered France on 13th August 1914. He went missing in action and was later presumed to have been killed in action on 1st November 1914 while serving as Lance Corporal 6587. It is believed by his family that Victor was probably killed by machine-gun fire while reinforcing the Royal Worcestershire Regiment at Geluvelt, Zonnebeke, near Ypres in Belgium.
Victor has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial and on the Civic Centre Memorial, Chelmsford (which records his rank as ‘Corporal’). He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal.
Victor’s widow remarried, in Folkestone, Kent in 1917, to William Norris. She lived at 11 Fernbank Crescent, in Folkestone.
Victor’s brother Leopold, a father of three and Marconi worker, died from Tubercular Meningitis at Ellenor Cottage, Marconi Road, in Chelmsford in 1920 aged 31.
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Victor was born at 6 Ponsonby Place in Westminster, London, on 6th June 1884, the son of Edward Barrow Martin and Eliza Annie Spriggs. His father had been born in 1861 in Westminster. The couple had married in London in 1882. Victor was baptised on 6th July 1884 at the church of St. John the Evangelist in Smith Square, London
Victor’s five siblings were Edith Emma Martin (born in 1882), Edward G. Martin (born c1887), Leopold 'Leo' William L. Martin (born in 1889), George Charles Martin (born in 1893) and Ernest Martin. All the children were born in Westminster.
The 1891 census found six year-old Victor living with his parents and three siblings at 20 Trehorn Road, Mortlake in Surrey. His father was employed as a lighterman, on the River Thames, while the census recorded his mother as ‘Antionette’ Martin.
Victor’s father died on 29th May 1898 from Phthisis (Tuberculosis) and physical exhaustion. This led to Victor, then aged 13, being taken in by Shafesbury Homes and residing on 'Training Ship', formerly HMS Arethusa on the River Thames at Greenhithe.
On 27th November 1899 Victor attested to join the 3rd Battalion of the Royal West Kent Militia (service number 2889), and gave his address as HMS Arethusa, his
occupation as musician, and his age as 15 years and five months. He reported to the Regiment's depot at Maidstone, Kent on 11th December 1899 for training at Shornecliffe Barracks, Kent for garrison duties.
On 3rd January 1900 he arrived Chatham Barracks and at 14:30 embarked with 30 officers and 990 other ranks from the battalion on the 5.874 tonne chartered troopship SS Golconda. Ten days later the vessel arrived at Valetta Harbour, Malta to relieve Royal Garrison Regiment for duties in South Africa. On 25th March 1900 Victor attended the battalion parade, perhaps as a bandsman. The 17th May 1900 saw the relief by the British of the Siege of Mafeking. Later that month the battalion was warned to be ready to be relieved by 1st Royal Garrison Regiment, and on the last day of the month it embarked on the SS Formosa, sailing for England on 1st June 1900. Southampton was reached eight days later.
The 1901 census recorded Victor's mother, calling herself Antoinette, and Edith at Churton Place, St. George Hanover Square, but he was absent. Hos brother Leo was at West London Poor Law Schools, Ashford in Middlesex.
In June 1902 a detachment of Victor's regiment encamped in Regent's Park, London, training for the Coronation of Edward VII, which was subsequently postponed. The regiment's annual camp took place from 9th June 1902 to 5th July 1902 at Colchester. On 23rd July 1902 medals were awarded.
Victor briefly left the army that summer but according to his brother Leo was driven to re-enlist by their mother. He did so on 19th August 1902 at New Cross in London into the 1st Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment) (service number 6587). He described himself as a musician.
