LOOKING BACK WITH DR JONATHAN OATES
The Martin brothers
Southall’s most celebrated craftsmen were the four Martin Brothers and their work
is still collected almost a century after their deaths. Some of their work is now on
display in the refurbished and reopened Dominion Centre.
T
hey were potters whose
output peaked in the
late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Perhaps their most
famous works are the tobacco jars with
removeable lids in the shape of large
beaked birds – these were known as the
Wally Birds after their creator Robert
Wallace Martin, the senior member of
this family firm and the master potter.
The four brothers were part of a
family who had its roots in Suffolk. In
the early 19th Century their parents,
Robert Thomas Martin and Margaret
Fraser moved to London, where their
large family took shape. Of their nine
children, one