{{Short description|Governor of North Carolina from 1771 to 1776, and in exile until 1783}} {{for|the New Zealand academic|Josiah Martin (teacher)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix= His Excellency<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change the British honorific prefix as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. --> | name = Josiah Martin | image = Josiah Martin.webp | caption = Portrait miniature of Martin, {{Circa|1763|lk=yes}} | office = Governor of North Carolina | term_start = 12 August 1771 | term_end = 4 July 1776<br />'''In exile'''<br />4 July 1776 – 3 September 1783 | monarch = George III | predecessor = James Hasell (acting) | successor = {{nowrap|Vacant (American Revolution)}}<br />{{nowrap|{{small|(Title next held by Richard Caswell)}}}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1737|4|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = County Dublin, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1786|4|13|1737|4|23|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | resting_place = St George's, Hanover Square, London | spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Martin|1761}} | children = 6 | father = Samuel Martin | mother = Sarah Wyke | profession = Army officer, colonial official | relatives = Samuel Martin (half-brother)<br />Sir Henry Martin (brother) | allegiance = Great Britain | branch = {{unbulleted list|Antigua Militia|<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add the Army flag adopted by the British government in 1938 (152 years after Martin's death) as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->British Army}} | branch_label = Branch | service_years = {{unbulleted list|1754–1757|1757–1769}} | rank = Lieutenant Colonel | unit = {{ublist|4th Regiment of Foot|103d Regiment of Foot|22d Regiment of Foot|68th Regiment of Foot}} | battles = {{tree list}} * Seven Years' War ** Siege of Louisbourg ** Battle of the Plains of Abraham ** Invasion of Martinique * Anglo-Spanish War ** Siege of Havana {{tree list/end}} | battles_label = Battles }}
Lieutenant Colonel '''Josiah Martin''' (23 April 1737 – 13 April 1786) was a colonial official who served as the ninth and last British governor of North Carolina from 1771 to 1776, and in exile until 1783.
==Early life and career== Josiah Martin was born in County Dublin, Ireland on 23 April 1737. He was the son of Samuel Martin, a planter who owned plantations on the British colony of Antigua. He was the third son of his father's second marriage. His elder half-brother Samuel Martin (1714–1788) was Secretary to the Treasury at London. Another brother, Sir Henry Martin (1735–1794), was naval commissioner at Portsmouth and Comptroller of the Navy.<ref name="NCPEDIA">{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/martin-josiah|title=Josiah Martin|website=NCPEDIA|author=Stumpf, Vernon O.|year=1991|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref>
Commissioned an ensign in the British Army in 1757, Martin had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1769. He participated in the siege of Louisbourg, Battle of the Plains of Abraham, invasion of Martinique and siege of Havana. In 1761, he married his first cousin, Miss Elizabeth Martin of Far Rockaway, New York, the daughter of Josiah Martin (1699–1778). On 29 December 1758, Martin was appointed to the provincial council of New York. Frequent business trips to London and Antigua resulted in the council temporarily replacing him in November 1762 with Lawrence Read, superseded in turn by Lawrence's father Joseph Read, to sit in Martin's place until he returned. Martin was given "a full year to determine whether he will return to the council from the West Indies."<ref name=jmj>{{cite book|author=Stumpf, Vernon O Stumpf|title=North Carolina Historical Review|volume=53|issue=1|year=1976|pages=55–79|jstor=23529666|publisher=North Carolina Office of Archives and History}}</ref><ref name="NCPEDIA" />
==Governor of North Carolina==
On 1 March 1771, George III appointed Martin provincial governor of North Carolina, succeeding James Hasell. Handicapped by illness, Martin remained at home in New York until 12 August 1771. Martin tried to give the North Carolinians useful and fair provincial government, but was hampered by instructions from Lord Hillsborough, and later by Lord Lewisham. In addition, former governor William Tryon left a political legacy of five major problems that plagued North Carolina. These problems were: * the fiscal and psychological effects of the War of the Regulation; * the unsettled and expensive dispute between the Carolinas about their mutual boundary line; * the struggle over the court law bills and the judiciary, especially the attachment of the property of debtors who had never lived in the province; * the old quorum trouble in the House of Commons that caused conflict between the House and the governor; and * the conflict over the selection of the chief personnel of the provincial government by the crown rather than through the assembly.<ref name=jmj />
thumb|upright|left|Martin's coat of arms
After Governor's Palace, Newbern<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "New Bern" as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. --> was attacked by Whigs on 24 April 1775, he sent his family to his in-laws' home in New York and took refuge on board the sloop-of-war HMS ''Cruizer'', transferring his headquarters to Fort Johnston on the Cape Fear River. When the Mecklenburg Resolves were published in May 1775, Martin transmitted a copy to England,<ref>Archibald Henderson, [http://www.newrivernotes.com/nc/meckdec1.htm "The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence"], ''The Journal of American History'', 1912. Henderson noted that it was previously thought that Martin sent a copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, but that it is "now established beyond doubt" that he sent a copy of the Resolves.</ref> which he described as "setting up a system of rule and regulation subversive of his majesty's government." Martin then requested a supply of arms and ammunition from General Thomas Gage in Boston. In July 1775, a plot instigated by Martin to arm the slaves was discovered. In retaliation, John Ashe led a group of colonists against Fort Johnston on 20 July. Martin was forced to flee aboard the ''Cruizer'' while the colonists destroyed the fort. Martin remained off the coast of North Carolina, directing the rising of the Loyalists, whom he supplied with weapons brought from England.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=4790|title=Josiah Martin, Historical Marker Database|website=HMdb.org|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref>
==Later life== After two attempts during the Carolina campaign to re-establish his administration were turned back, Martin, who was then in ill health due to fatigue, left for Long Island and then England. He died in London on 13 April 1786 and was buried at St George's, Hanover Square, London.<ref name="NCPEDIA" /><ref name="Lewis">{{cite web|url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/Royal_Colony/jmartin.html|title=Josiah Martin|website=carolana.com|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref>
==Honors== Martin County, North Carolina, is named after him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gannett|first=Henry|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA201|year=1905|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=201}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== <!-- =============================================================================== WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A COLLECTION OF LINKS. Only a limited number of new links should be added to this article. PLEASE DO NOT ADD external links to sites with information already in the article or in its sources.
See Wikipedia:External links and Wikipedia:Spam for further details =============================================================================== --> * [http://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/royal-governor-josiah-martin-1737-1786/ Josiah Martin] at the North Carolina History Project <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please follow the WP: EL guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page. Thank you. -->
{{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=James Hasell<br />{{small|Acting}}}} {{s-ttl|title=Governor of North Carolina|years=1771–1776<br />{{small|'''In exile'''}}<br />1776–1783}} {{s-vac|reason=American Revolution|next=Richard Caswell}} {{s-end}} {{Governors of North-Carolina (1712–1776)|state=expanded}} {{Portal bar|Biography|British Empire|North Carolina}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Josiah}} Category:1737 births Category:1786 deaths Category:18th-century Antigua and Barbuda people Category:18th-century British landowners Category:68th Regiment of Foot officers Category:Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763) Category:Antigua and Barbuda people of British descent Category:British Anglicans Category:British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War Category:British Militia officers Category:British officials in the American Revolution Category:Burials at St George's, Hanover Square Category:Cheshire Regiment officers Category:Governors of the Province of North Carolina Category:King's Own Royal Regiment officers Category:Martin family (Antigua and Barbuda) Category:People from County Dublin Category:People from London Category:People from Nassau County, New York Category:People from New Bern, North Carolina