Lionel Martin

Lionel Walker Birch Martin (15 March 1878 – 21 October 1945) was a British businessman, who founded the company, with Robert Bamford (1883–1942), that became Aston Martin.

He was born at Nansladron at St Ewe near St Austell in Cornwall, and was an only child. His father was Edward Martin (born in 1843), the owner of Martin Brothers China Clay Merchants in St Austell, who lived at Treverbyn, and who also owned the Lee Moor porcelain factory in Plympton. Martin Brothers, founded in 1837, became part of English China Clays.

His mother was Elizabeth Emily Birch (born in 1851 in Manchester), who had also been married previously to Walter Braithwaite who died, and she came from Salford, and her family were wealthy chalk and lime merchants; her father was William Singleton Birch, who had founded Singleton Birch, later run by his uncle Thomas Birch. His parents had married on 26 April 1877 at Lillington, Warwickshire; he was baptised on 20 May 1878 at Lillington church. He grew up in Knightsbridge.

In 1891 he went to Eton College. In 1897 he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was an enthusiast member of the Oxford University Bicycle Club, then joined the Bath Road Club. In 1900 he went to Marcon's Hall, also known as Charsley's Hall, run by Charles Abdy Marcon. He graduated with a BA in 1902.

Through the Bath Road Club (BRC) he met Montague Napier, who developed a luxury car company. In 1903 he went into partnership with Montague Napier to sell cars.

In 1909 after not paying a fine, he was banned from driving for two years at Guildford. He appealed at the High Court in January 1910, but the appeal was not upheld. For the next two years he rode bicycles, gaining the fastest record from Edinburgh to York in 1911.

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