Richard Biddulph Martin 1838 – 1916

Richard Biddulph Martin was the eldest son of Robert Martin. He worked in London becoming a partner and later chairman of Martin’s bank. Sir Richard once stated “The private banks did good service to the community in their day. On one occasion when my grand father was informed that the Bank of England were going to cease making payments in gold. “I do not care whether the Bank of England does so or not” was his reply: “I shall”".
He had a lot of interests including photography. Though he admitted  to not being a great reader, he greatly admired Darwin and supported a petition to give him a Westminster Abbey burial, losing in the process a valued Martin’s Bank customer.

He married in 1864 Mary Francis Crozier but they did not have any children.

He was an MP representing Tewkesbury 1880 – 1885 and then Droitwich. He later was to comment about the House of Commons that “it was a much more respectable place than it is now”.

He spent many of his older years at Overbury where his enthusiasm for design and architecture is very evident. He encouraged his father to start the building programme using his architect friend Richard Norman Shaw and continued building and converting a significant number of the buildings in Overbury & Conderton.  He was very keen on good farming practice and is said to have believed that where Bredon Hill does not grow corn it grows wood and then gone on to say “When you have nothing else to do grow an acorn”!  In 1905 he was created a baronet.