Robert Wallace Martin

Robert, better known as Wallace, Martin was the oldest of four brothers who led the studio pottery industry in the late 1860s. Early on he worked for an architectural sculpture firm, J.B. Phillips, where he was employed at, among other things, designing the decoration for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament. He took drawing classes at the Lambeth School of Art, near the Royal Doulton Pottery works. He started producing his own pottery in Fulham in 1873. With his brothers the firm, having moved to Southall, became known for distinctive saltglazed stoneware. Wallace’s training as a sculptor undoubtedly influenced the creation of the anthropomorphically shaped tobacco jars known as “Wally birds.”