Josiah Martin

Josiah Martin (1 August 1843 – 29 September 1916) was a New Zealand teacher, photographer and prominent Auckland Freemason.

Early life Martin was born in London, England, to mother Charlotte Bromley and father Josiah Martin. Martin worked first in an insurance office, then as a coal merchant while in England. In 1864, he married Caroline Mary Wakefield, and in 1867 the couple moved to New Zealand with their daughter.

Career Martin's first work experiences in New Zealand were in farming and operating a school in Northland region town, Maungaturoto. Martin was one of the founding members of the Grafton District School and remained headmaster there until 1874. He was also instrumental in founding the Auckland School Teachers Association in 1873 which aimed to create a national education program and fought for educational reform. New Zealand Illustrated and exhibited photographs at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford.

Martin was an active lecturer, not only on photography matters but he also had an interest in geological and physiological subjects.

Legacy Martin died on 29 September 1916 at his Auckland home in Northcote at age 73.

An exert from his obituary in The New Zealand Herald reads: Mr. Martin was a man of many parts, social, artistic, and scientific. In matters photographic he was one of the first men in New Zealand to exploit the scenic wealth of the country and his photographs of New Zealand panoramic beauty had great vogue some 30 years ago, long before the State formed a Tourist Department and took in hand the advertising of the special attractions of the country. Probably Mr. Martin's photographs did more to bring the Rotomahana Terraces and other thermal wonders of the Auckland Province under the notice of the world than any other medium.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16350, 3 October 1916In 1958 his three daughters donated his collection of negatives to the Auckland Institute and Museum.

Te Papa, Auckland Art Gallery and the British Museum also house collections of Martin's photographic works.