CHARLES HENRY MARTIN.
 



	Charles Henry Martin is an old resident of the vicinity of Wilkie,
having come here a year before the town was started. He has held many
positions of trust and is now secretary-treasurer of the Rural Municipality
of Buffalo, No.409.  He was born in Trichinopoli, India, in January,
1870, a son of Judge C. W. W. and Gertrude H. Martin, natives of County
Cavan, Ireland.  The father graduated from the University of Dublin,
Ireland, with the LL. D. degree and was subsequently appointed judge.
He was then sent to India and served on the bench there for many years.
He finally retired from the bench and made his home in Ealing, a suburb
of London, England, until his death in February, 1907. He was a man
of sterling character and true personal worth and stood high in his pro-
fession. He reared and educated a family of twelve children, eight of
whom are living. Some of his sons were killed in the Great war. Mrs.
Martin died in March, 1916.
	The public schools of Belfast and later Corrig School, Kingstown, Ire-
land, afforded Charles Henry Martin his early education, the latter being
the largest school in the country.  He then entered Pembroke College,
Cambridge, England, and was graduated therefrom with the B. A. degree
in the class of 1892. Following his graduation he went through an elec-
trical college in London and stood first in his final examinations.  He
then returned to India and, relieving another man, served as secretary
to the Rajah for two years. At the completion of that time he returned
to England and took up his profession as an electrical engineer, in which
he was successful for seven years. In 1905 he came to Canada as tester
for the Westinghouse Electric Company. While in its employ he received
a fifteen-thousand-volt shock and it has always been a miracle how he
lived to tell of the experience. His health, however, was impaired as a
result of the shock and he was forced to give up his chosen line of work.
In 1907 he came west and on the 24th of June took up a homestead in this
province, near where the town of Wilkie now stands, and he has been
active in the operation of this land since. In 1908 he was persuaded to
take over the duties of secretary of the first municipal work of local
improvement district and later undertook the organization of the Rural
Municipality of Prairie.  He was secretary of that municipality until
1915, when he became secretary of Rural Municipality of Buffalo, No.
409, which he has since held. Mr. Martin owns considerable property
here and is a constant booster of this town, district and province, and
very much so for the Dominion.
	Mr. Martin is a member of the Masonic order and his religious faith
is that of the Church of England.  He belongs to the Wilkie Golf and
other clubs and is president of the Wilkie Tennis Club.  He has served
as secretary of most of the local clubs in Wilkie from time to time. Mr.
Martin has always been a sportsman. Before coming west he was very
active in cricket, golf and tennis circles and was a scratch player in golf.
At tennis he won a number of championships, and for four years he
played international tennis and was captain of the Irish team one year.
He also won the doubles championship of France and India. He was a
good swimmer and when a boy of fourteen years rescued a boy from
drowning in a bad sea. He likewise rescued a friend from drowning in
the surf in India.  Another of Mr. Martin's hobbies, aside from his
sports, is natural history, and he has the largest collection of mounted
birds and animals in Saskatchewan.  All of his specimens were caught
in the municipality of which he is secretary-treasurer.  Mr. Martin is
unmarried.


Bibliography follows: