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Claude Martin ( 1735-1800) was a Frenchman who entered the army of
the English East India Company in 1760, became superintendent of the
nawab's arsenal at Lucknow in 1776, and resided in the city for the
remainder of his life. In addition to his duties at the arsenal, he became
one of the wealthiest Europeans in India at that time, with interests in
property, finance, and business, particularly indigo farming. When he
died in September 1800, an inventory of his estate was made
encompassing the contents of his principal houses in Lucknow - the
Chateau de Lyon and Constantia, his Najafgarh estate near Cawnpore,
and his business affairs including rents and debtors. This document
forms the subject of this book.
Few of Martin 's possessions can be identified today with certainty.
Amongst these is a dagger in the Wallace Collection, London, that
bears his name scratched into the hilt. A sword with a jade hilt,
bestowed on him by the nawab Asaf ud-Daula (r. 1775-1797), carries a
gold inscription naming General Martin, giving his rank and titles with
an Islamic date which can be interpreted as either 1786-7 or 1796-7.
The inventory is therefore the principal surviving record of his lifestyle
and interests. Preserved in the British Library, it is clearly the work of
several clerks checking and recording every item they saw as they
walked through the properties, room by room. Studied in its raw state
the list is therefore rather random, neither arranged by material nor by
subject. The book remedies this with selected topics examined in detail
by a number of renowned experts in their fields.
John Ford examines Martin 's means of travel as itemised in the
inventory, including his nineteen carriages, and his palanquins, horses,
and boats. The most remarkable mode of transport favoured by Martin
was the hot air balloon, although none appear in the inventory. Martin
has been described as a man of the Enlightenment, and the record of his
scientific and mathematical instruments reveals him to have been a
polymath in the best 18th century tradition. Jane Desborough discusses
these, and also his clocks and watches, in Chapter Three. Robert
Elgood discusses the artillery, long guns and pistols, many
characterised by distinctive silver mounts and silver barrels. Elgood
has published widely on India and Islamic weapons, and brings his
expertise to bear on the range of unusual weapons acquired by Martin.
This reviewer would take issue with him on the interpretation of the
date on the sword presented by Asaf ud-Daula mentioned above, but
this is a relatively minor point in this chapter. Charles Grieg reviews
the paintings, silver and jewellery in the inventory in Chapter Five. A
group of natural history paintings commissioned by Martin are held at
Kew. Textiles and garments form a significant section of the inventory
discussed by Rosemary Crill. Listed fabrics included textiles for
furnishing and personal use, such as gold and silver threaded brocades,
silks, muslins and chintz. The largest group of fabrics were piece
goods, lengths of material to be cut and used for garments. There were
also European carpets and a set of Gobel in tapestries. Chapter Seven
by Jean-Marie Lafont highlights the extraordinary range of Martin 's
interests. The library, perhaps the largest owned by a European in India
at the time, included many classics and books on history, travel and
languages. It extended to military works, mathematics, astronomy,
physics and chemistry. Modern topics included books on electricity and
on understanding the atmosphere so that he could fly hot air balloons.
There were books on medicine and natural sciences. It is the library of
a true polymath. This is followed by a catalogue of the books sent to
Calcutta to be auctioned, giving full details of the author, title and
edition for each volume, thus expanding the bare list of titles given in
the original inventory.
Finally, a full transcription of the inventory is provided, enabling
readers to appreciate the range of material owned by Martin. This
section will also facilitate further research by others. These specialist
chapters are book-ended by an introduction and concluding remarks, by
Llewellyn-Jones, who has written extensively on Martin and Lucknow
elsewhere. She gives details of his life, his houses and his personal
affairs including his Indian mistresses, or bibis. This book is a standalone
volume, but the contents are immeasurably enriched when read in
conjunction with her other work on Martin by including her biography
of him and his edited correspondence. It will appeal to anyone studying
the interests of an eighteenth-century Enlightenment figure in India and
will be a valuable addition to any library. Several aspects of Martin 's
life remain obscure and details await discovery, as Llewellyn-Jones
notes, including the source of the seed money which launched his
extraordinarily successful business career and his undiscovered
correspondence with Dr James Crichton, his agent in China. This
important book will not be the last word on this remarkable man.
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