John Martin

John Martin M.D. (1789–1869) was a British meteorologist and physician, known now for his writing on Tonga.

Life Martin practised for some years as a physician in the City of London.

In November 1825 Martin began a period of six months in the Fleet Prison, for debt. He had support from the publisher John Murray, who applied on his behalf to the Literary Fund Society. He then returned to Portugal, where he had business interests. He died at Lisbon on 8 July 1869. It appeared as An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, with an original Grammar and Vocabulary of their Language. Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications of Mr. William Mariner, several years resident in those Islands,''' 2 vols. London, 1817; 2nd edit. 1818. It was also reprinted as vol. xiii. of Constable's Miscellany''. Mariner had been detained in Tonga from 1806 to 1810.