Martin Bladen

Colonel Martin Bladen (1680–1746) was a Commissioner of the Board of Trade and Plantations, a Privy Councillor in Ireland and Comptroller of the Mint.

Martin was born in 1680 in Yorkshire and was the son of Nathaniel Bladen and Isabella Fairfax. His father was an attorney and Steward to Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds (Lord Danby), his mother was the daughter of Sir William Fairfax (soldier) of Steeton and was related to Lord Fairfax. Martin's older brother William Bladen was Attorney-General in Maryland and briefly Secretary of that Province and his nephew Thomas Bladen was Governor of Maryland in the 1740s. Martin's sister Elizabeth was the mother of Admiral Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke. Martin acted as guardian to Admiral Hawke and supported his career advancement in the navy.

After initial education in Yorkshire, Martin attended Westminster School where he was a Queen's Scholar at St Peter's College and then attended St John's College in Cambridge. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1698 but did not pursue a legal career. He joined the military in December 1697 as Ensign to Captain Jos. Fletcher in Brigadier-General Thomas Fairfax's Regiment of Foot, Fairfax being his uncle. After an initial posting to Ireland, his regiment was deployed in Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal in Marlborough's service. When the Earl of Galway, Henri de Massue de Ruvigny arrived as the new Generalissimo of the British Army, he took Bladen as his aide-de-camp. Bladen was appointed Colonel in 1709 though within the year he had sold his colonelcy and retired from the military.

He commenced his career in politics by winning seats in 1713. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Kinsale in Cork, Ireland that year, though was defeated as MP for Saltash in Cornwall. In 1715 he won another Irish seat for Bandon but again lost a renewed attempt at Saltash, though succeeded in getting a seat in Stockbridge in Hampshire. He was MP for Maldon in Essex in 1734 and Portsmouth in 1741.

In 1714 he secured a position as Comptroller of the Royal Mint and, throughout his time at the Mint, Isaac Newton was the head of that organisation. Martin only left the Mint after the death of Newton many years later. This post was not full-time and allowed Martin to pursue other appointments, and in 1715 (after declining Sir Robert Walpole's offer to be Envoy to Switzerland) he accepted a position in Ireland as Chief Secretary to his old military commander the Earl of Galway and Charles Fitzroy, 2nd Duke of Grafton who held joint Governorship. Bladen shared his role there with Charles Delafaye. In 1715 he was made a Privy Councillor in Ireland.

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