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Martyn, Herbert Henry (1861-1927)

Martyn, Herbert Henry

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire & London; cabinet maker and carver (fl.c.1861-1927)

Born in Worcester in 1842, at 14 Martyn was apprenticed to a picture-frame maker. He later studied at the School of Design in South Kensington. In 1861 he became a journeyman carver for the architectural carver, James Forsyth, earning 7 shillings a week. However, he left shortly afterwards to work at 30 shillings a week for R. L. Boulton, who was carrying out restoration work in Worcester Cathedral. When Boulton moved his studio to Cheltenham in 1867 Martyn went with him. Seven years later set up on his own as a freelance carver in wood and stone.  

By 1881 he was in partnership with Alfred Jeffrey Emms, when they jointly executed the carved work in connection with the restoration of Besford Church, Worcestershire [The Furniture Gazette, 21 May 1881]. The partnership also carried out carving work on the nave and stalls in the newly built St Stephen’s Church, Tivoli, Cheltenham [The Furniture Gazette, 5 January 1884] and supplied a new pulpit, reredos and font for Llangattock Church, near Crickhowell [The Furniture Gazette, 1 November 1886]. 

In 1888 he formed H. H. Martyn & Co. as an association of art craftsmen centred in a house on High Street, Cheltenham, called Sunningend. In 1898 he took his son, Alfred Willie Martyn, into partnership and in 1900 the partnership became a private limited company, the activities of which included cabinet making, wrought iron and small objects in bronze and gun metal, plasterwork and joinery. Some 200 skilled craftsmen and artists were involved in the company. In 1909 they made the so-called Cumberland Screen at Marble Arch and began fitting out luxury ocean liners. The firm had an office and showroom at 5 Grafton Street, off Bond Street.

The First World War brought the contract of supplying the wings and fuselages for De Havilland and Farman aircraft and after the War by 1933 the company had undertaken thirty-six ship interior decoration contracts from their factory in Cheltenham. 

Alfred Martyn resigned in 1927 and in 1934 they accepted a takeover bid by Maple & Co., the two firms forming The Maple-Martyn Organisation. 

Source: Barty-King, Maples Fine Furnishers, A Household Name for 150 Years (1992).