Martin Baker - Ejection seat and escape system technology

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Sir James Martin CBE, DSc, C Eng, FImech E, Hon FRAeS
(11th September 1893 - 5th January 1981)

Honours:

Order of British Empire (OBE) 1950
RAeS Wakefield Gold Medal, 1952
Commander of British Empire (CBE), 1957
Royal Aero Club Gold Medal, 1964
Knight Bachelor, 1965

Sir James Martin has been variously described as a nuggety, dynamic, sandy-haired Ulsterman, Churchillian in character, with extraordinary stamina, yet this does not adequately describe this quite remarkable man. Born in Crossgar, County Down, Sir James grew up on a farm in that part of Ireland, among people of sturdy independence. He was a man of strong personality, upright principles, with deep religious convictions, though he was not a church-goer. An ardent student of simple Biblical truths, he brought a clear, no-nonsense attitude to bear on all he did. From a very early age, James Martin displayed exceptional powers of inventiveness and, while still in his teens, had designed, made and sold a wide variety of machines. He had a great desire to invent and make things with his own hands, and, scorning conventional education, by dint of hard work and continuous study, he was an accomplished engineer long before the age of 21. His farmer father had died whilst Sir James was still an infant and his mother, wishing him to have a university education, took him to see a professor of engineering at Belfast University.

How to secure an income and accumulate capital was now his dominant thought and work was begun at once to acquire a workshop and tools. A small shed was found in Acton at a low rental and this became the centre of James Martin's early activities. He recalled journeying some distance away to buy timber from a demolished building to make himself a workbench and travelling back to Acton carrying large planks on the platform of a London bus, much to the chagrin of fellow passengers. But from this modest origin grew the present strong company of which Sir James Martin was founder. In the early days at Acton, his remarkable gifts of design and engineering ingenuity were put to the task of developing and putting on the market a wide variety of useful and saleable machines ranging from small oil engines to specialised vehicles of all kinds. James Martin, in those days, was an all-embracing company. He was inventor, draughtsman, experimental engineer, toolmaker, fitter, assemblyman, salesman and, finally, delivery driver - it is on record that he designed and made a rather specialised road vehicle for a customer in Manchester and, on completion, drove it through the night in order to save the expense of hiring a delivery driver.

Sir James's recollection of the interview is that, after interrogation and discussion, the professor and he decided it would be wise and to their mutual benefit to terminate their acquaintanceship at this early stage. James Martin had no wish to spend time in university lecture rooms and laboratories when he knew he could be outside designing and making things. Whilst in his early twenties, feeling the confines of Ulster too restrictive on his ambitious outlook, Martin journeyed to London, arriving with ten pounds in his pocket and not knowing a single person in the whole of England. Frugality was essential at this stage and lodgings at modest cost were soon obtained, leaving a little money in hand to begin work. It was certainly not Martin's intention to take a job with anyone, and he was determined to start his own business.

Sir James Martin