Colonel Richard Martin (15 January 1754 – 6 January 1834), was an Irish politician and campaigner against cruelty to animals. He was known as Humanity Dick, a nickname bestowed on him by King George IV.Shevawn Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin 'King of Connemara' 1754-1834 (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 1989), p 171 He succeeded in getting the pioneering Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822, nicknamed 'Martin's Act', passed into British law.

Early life Martin was born at Dangan in County Galway, the only son of Robert Martin FitzAnthony of Birch Hall, County Galway, and Bridget Barnwall, a daughter of Robert Barnewall, 12th Baron Trimlestown. He was raised at Dangan House, situated on the Corrib River, four miles upriver from the town of Galway. His father's family were Jacobites and one of "The Tribes of Galway," fourteen merchant families who ruled Galway from the 14th to 17th centuries. The Barnwalls were an ennobled family of Norman descent based in the counties of Dublin, Kildare and Meath in Leinster.On his ancestors see Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin pp xi-xviii Bridget Barnwall died when Richard was nine years old. Richard's father later married Mary Lynch, a member of another "Tribal" family, with whom he had sons Robert and Anthony. Though both of his parents were born to Catholics, Richard Martin was raised a Protestant and educated in England and later became a wealthy landlord in Ireland.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p 5.

He studied at Harrow and then after some tutelage for exams to gain admission at Trinity College, Cambridge, he "was admitted a gentleman-commoner at Trinity on 4 March 1773."Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p. 7. Also see J. A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses: a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900 Part II from 1752 to 1900, Volume IV from Kahlenberg to Oyler (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1951), p 343 Martin did not graduate with a degree but studied for admission to the bar and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 1 February 1776.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p 9. He served as a lawyer in Ireland and became High Sheriff of Galway in 1782.Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, p 343.

In the Londonderry Journal of 13 June 1786, it was reported that Martin's black slave boy, reputedly the son of a west African king, was permitted to resign from Martin's service after his father had died and he was recalled to succeed to the throne.

Adult life Martin entered the Irish House of Commons in 1776, sitting for Jamestown until 1783. After a break of fifteen years, he was returned to Parliament for Lanesborough in 1798, promoting Catholic Emancipation.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, pp 23, 26, 150-151, 164-167, 216-217, 236-239, 241-249 Just before the Act of Union dissolved the Irish Parliament and obliged Irish MPs to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, he was elected for County Galway. He continued to represent County Galway in Westminster as a political independent until 1812 and again from 1818, supporting the Tory government of Lord Liverpool.Phillips, Humanity Dick, pp 112, 132, 146-148, 151 In the House of Commons he was known for his interruptions and humorous speeches. He continued his work towards Irish Catholic Emancipation till 1826, when he had to flee to France. Emancipation was finally granted in 1829, much to his delight. He was also "a member of the Society for the amelioration and gradual abolition of Slavery throughout the British Dominions which had been formed in 1823."Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p 250.

Anti-animal cruelty and RSPCA

Martin is now best known for his work against animal cruelty, especially against bear baiting and dog fighting. Martin's attempt to have an anti-cruelty-to-animals bill passed stands in a chronological line with some previous failed efforts in England's Parliament. A sympathetic groundswell of public opinion emerged in the late 18th and early 19th century in opposition to cultural amusements such as bull-baiting and cock-fighting and in the visible maltreatment of animals that were herded in for slaughter at London's Smithfield Market.Further discussion see Rob Boddice, A History of Attitudes and Behaviours Toward Animals in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Britain (Lewiston, New York; Queenston, Ontario; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008). Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987). The first unsuccessful legislative attempt was led by William Johnstone Pulteney on 18 April 1800 to ban bull-baiting but it was lost to the opposition vote in the House of Commons.See Kathryn Shevelow, For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 201-222. A renewed effort was undertaken in 1809 with an anti-cruelty bill introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Erskine (1750–1823) which passed in that House but was defeated by a vote in the House of Commons.Richard D. Ryder, Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Toward Speciesism Rev Ed (Oxford; New York: Berg, 2000), pp 79-80. Martin voted in favour of both Pulteney's and Erskine's bills.Phillips, Humanity Dick, 139-140

Martin drafted a new bill in consultation with the then retired Lord Erskine as well as with the agricultural writer and animal rights advocate John Lawrence (1753-1839).,Edward G. Fairholme and Wellesley Pain, A Century of Work for Animals: The History of the RSPCA, 1824-1934 (London: John Murray, 1934), p 25. Peter Phillips, Humanity Dick, p 161. entitled the "Ill Treatment of Cattle Bill". The bill passed in the House of Commons by twenty-nine to eighteen votes, then through the House of Lords and was signed by the king, becoming the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822 on 21 June 1822.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p. 207 He also tried to spread his ideas in the streets of London, becoming the target of jokes and political cartoons that depicted him with the ears of a donkey. He also sometimes paid fines of minor offenders.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work For Animals, pp 30-32 In May 1824 he attempted to widen the scope of anti-cruelty legislation by introducing the Slaughtering of Horses Bill which would have obliged licensed slaughterhouses to keep proper records of food allocated to each horse and with penalties applied to those using a horse that had a disabled limb to haul carts. This bill was defeated on 15 June 1824.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, 231

In 1821 letters were exchanged by various correspondents in periodicals raising concerns about the maltreatment of animals, which included one written by Rev. Arthur Broome that was published in The Kaleidoscope on 6 March 1821."To Correspondents" "The Kaleidoscope," 6 March 1821 p 288. Also see The Monthly Magazine Vol. 51 April 1, 1821 p 3 Broome attempted to bring together the patronage of persons who were of social rank and committed to social reforms and he chaired a meeting that was held in November 1822 to create a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Shevelow, For The Love of Animals, 268; Arthur W. Moss, Valiant Crusade: The History of the RSPCA (London: Cassell, 1961), 22. This initial attempt however faltered and a fresh attempt to launch the society was organized by Broome at a meeting on 16 June 1824 at Old Slaughter's Coffee House, London. Broome invited various clergy, lawyers and parliamentarians to vote on the resolution to create the Society and among those present were Thomas Fowell Buxton MP (1786-1845), William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Richard Martin, Sir James Mackintosh MP, Basil Montagu, William Mudford, Rev. George Avery Hatch (1757-1837), Rev George Bonner (1784-1840), Sir James Graham, J. G. Meymott, John Ashley Warre and Lewis Gompertz.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work for Animals, p 54; Lewis Gompertz, "Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Souls and Future State" (London: Horsell, 1852), pp 174-175. Broome was elected as the society's first honorary secretary.

In 1824–1825 Martin also became involved in the emerging British controversy over vivisection. The controversy was catalysed by the visit to London of the French physiologist François Magendie, whose demonstrations of experiments on living animals before large medical audiences provoked widespread criticism. A particularly notorious demonstration at the Windmill Street anatomy school involved a live dog being forcibly restrained on a dissecting table and subjected to extensive operations on the nerves of its face. Contemporary accounts emphasized the extreme and prolonged suffering of the animal, and reports of the demonstration caused an outcry that has been identified as an important starting point of the organized British anti-vivisection movement.

In February 1825 Martin brought the affair before the House of Commons, describing Magendie's experiments as involving "excessive and protracted cruelty" and reporting that leading British medical authorities also condemned them. Martin nevertheless acknowledged that some experiments on living animals could be necessary, provided that suffering was minimized. Returning to the subject in March, he distinguished experiments aimed at discovering something materially beneficial to humanity from Magendie's London demonstrations, which he alleged merely repeated experiments already performed in Paris and were exhibited for "dramatic effect".

Due to Martin's profile as a politician and as the drafter of the anti-cruelty legislation, a public perception developed that he was the initiator and creator of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work For Animals, p 49 At the Society's first anniversary meeting Martin set the public record straight and gave credit to Rev Broome by stating: "I have nothing at all to do with it," he said "it is quite a child of Mr. Broome's and he has acted the part of a good father to it.""The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," London Courier, 1 July 1825, p 4. During 1826 the society's debts became greater than its revenue, and Broome as the society's guarantor was sentenced by the Kings Bench to the debtors' prison, and Martin and Gompertz raised funds to cover the debts and obtain Broome's release.See The National Archives, King's Bench Prison commitments, 1826, Ref. No. PRIS 4/38, 54; and King's Bench Prison, Final Discharges 1827, Ref. No. PRIS 7/46, II. Also see Moss, Valiant Crusade, 25-26. Martin maintained an interest in the Society even after he left England and resettled in France.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, p 279.

Active life Martin also had a very eventful life. He was a colonel of the County Galway Volunteers.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, pp 28, 31, 38-39 He survived two shipwrecks.Phillips, Humanity Dick, 163 He fought over a hundred duels with sword and pistol and earned the nickname "Hairtrigger Dick".Phillips, Humanity Dick, 40. He travelled extensively in Europe and the Americas during the 1770s and was in New England when the American Revolutionary War began.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, pp 8, 70-75 He initiated Galway's first theatre in 1783.Phillips, Humanity Dick, pp 59 & 65

Martin was on a first-name basis with many of the famous names of his age, including King George IV (who gave him the nickname "Humanity Dick"), Henry Flood, Henry Grattan, William Pitt, Queen Caroline, and Daniel O'Connell.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, pp 8, 123, 171, 189-192 Despite his nickname he was considered a very harsh landlord in Ireland.Lynam, Humanity Dick Martin, pp 233-235