The Rev. William Keble Martin (9 July 1877 – 26 November 1969) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

botanical illustrator Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in boo ...

, known for his ''Concise British Flora in Colour'', published in May 1965 when the author was 88. The book was the result of 60 years' meticulous fieldwork and exquisite painting skills, and became an immediate best-seller. He completed over 1,400 paintings in colour and many black-and-white drawings before the book was finally published.

Life and work

Keble Martin was born in

Radley Radley is a village and civil parish about northeast of the centre of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Lower Radley on the River Thames. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfor ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, the grandson of Dr George Moberly, headmaster of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

and later

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

. He was brother to architect Arthur Campbell Martin CVO FRIBA (1875–1963) and was also connected to

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, is named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. His father was appointed as the Rector of

Dartington Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located to the west of the River Dart, south of Dar ...

, near Totnes, when William was 14 years old. He was educated at

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

, and went up to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

in 1896 to read Greek Philosophy and Botany. He trained for the church at Cuddesdon Theological College. After ordination, he worked in industrial parishes in the north and Midlands (one of these was

Wath-upon-Dearne Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster. It had a po ...

, the subject of his first book) and, in the First World War, as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

in France. In 1921 he was offered the benefice of

Haccombe Haccombe is a village and former civil parish and historic manor, now in the parish of Haccombe with Combe, in the Teignbridge district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated 2 1/2 miles east of Newton Abbot, in the south of the coun ...

and

Coffinswell Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon, England, just off the A380, the busy Newton Abbot to Torquay road. It lies within Teignbridge District Council. Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman font. Near the ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and in 1934 became the incumbent of St Michael and All Angels,

Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

. (He was the

Archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

of Haccombe and Rector of Coffinswell.) Keble Martin saw a vision of a new church in a dream, and his brother architect transformed the dream into reality - now a listed building, St Luke the Evangelist Church at

Milber Milber is a suburban area of Newton Abbot and former civil parish, now in the parish of Newton Abbot, in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England. Much of the area comprises a housing estate at . It lies to the east of the town centre, on the ...

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...

is remarkable for its exceptional interior space and extraordinary plan with three angled naves, linked by arcades with granite columns, which converge on the central altar. The exterior walls are white render with a pyramidal copper-clad roof on a squat square tower. Keble Martin retired in 1949 at the age of 72, but continued to work in the church. He was elected a Fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

in 1928, and later edited with G. T. Fraser the first volume of a comprehensive ''Flora of Devon'' (1939). In June 1966 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from

Exeter University The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School o ...

. Four of his designs for an issue of wild flower stamps were accepted by the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

and issued in April 1967. He published his autobiography, ''Over the Hills'', shortly before he died in 1969 at the age of 92 at

Woodbury, East Devon Woodbury is a village and civil parish in East Devon in the England, English county of Devon, south east of the city of Exeter. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census the village had a population of 1,605, and the parish (which also inc ...

Family life

William Keble Martin married twice: in 1909 Violet Chaworth-Musters (d. 1963) and then in 1965 Florence Lewis. His children were three daughters and two sons.

Bibliography of Martin's published work

*''A History of the Ancient Parish of Wath-upon-Dearne'' Wath-upon-Dearne: W. E. Farthing (1920) *W. Keble Martin & Fraser, Gordon Travers (eds.) ''Flora of Devon'' ol. 1Phanerogams, vascular Cryptogams, Charophyta: promoted by the Devonshire Association; edited by ... W. Keble Martin ... Gordon T. Fraser ... With the assistance of ... Thomas Stephenson ... Francis M. Day. Arbroath: T. Buncle & Co. (1939) *''The Concise British Flora in Colour''; with nomenclature edited by Douglas H. Kent and foreword by The Duke of Edinburgh. London:

Ebury Press Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Centu ...

/ Michael Joseph (1965) **The 2nd edition of the ''Flora'' was published in 1969: from 1965 to 1978 12 impressions were issued altogether of the three editions. ** ------ with nomenclature edited and revised by Douglas H. Kent, 3rd ed. Ebury Press, 1974 *''Over The Hills----'' (autobiography), London: Michael Joseph (1968) *''The New Concise British Flora''; with nomenclature edited and revised by Douglas H. Kent and foreword by The Duke of Edinburgh. London: Book Club Associates by arrangement with

/ Michael Joseph (1982)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, William Keble British nature writers 1877 births 1969 deaths British botanical illustrators British botanists Clergy from Devon Fellows of the Linnean Society of London People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon 20th-century English Anglican priests World War I chaplains Royal Army Chaplains' Department officers 20th-century British painters British male painters Scientists from Devon