John Martyn (schoolmaster)

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{{Other people|John Martyn}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = John Martyn
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
| image = John Martyn, The Doon School.jpg
| image size = 175px
| alt = John A. K. Martyn
| alma mater = [[St John's College, Cambridge]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| caption = Martyn during his retirement years
| birth_name = John A. K. Martyn
| birth_date = 1903
| birth_place = England
| death_date = {{Death year and age|1984|1903}}
| death_place = [[India]]
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| known_for = Schoolmaster at [[Harrow School]]<br /> Headmaster of [[The Doon School]]
| occupation = Scholar, academic, [[schoolmaster]]
}}
'''John A. K. Martyn''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (more commonly known as '''J. A. K. Martyn''') (1903–1984), was an English [[schoolmaster]], scholar, academic and a distinguished British [[Himalaya]]n [[mountaineer]]. He was the second headmaster of [[The Doon School]].

==Career==
In 1935, John Martyn accompanied [[Arthur Foot]] to India to establish the teaching staff of [[The Doon School]], a newly opened [[boarding school]] for Indian boys.<ref>{{cite web|author=Swapan Seth |url=http://www.sunday-guardian.com/bookbeat/an-educationist-leads-by-example |title=An educationist leads by example |publisher=Sunday-guardian.com |date= |accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref><ref>Michael Shaw, ''In Search of Time Wasted: Peregrinations from Seil Island'' (AuthorHouse, 2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7U0Gc1eJ1BEC&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 22]</ref>

Martyn had previously taught at [[Harrow School]] in England for ten years before he moved to India.<ref>[http://www.jmmt.in/about-john-martyn.html About John Martyn] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120802161400/http://www.jmmt.in/about-john-martyn.html |date=2 August 2012 }}</ref> In Doon, he was given the post of Deputy Headmaster, which he kept till 1948. Shortly after Indian independence in 1947, Foot left [[Dehradun]] to take up the headship of [[Ottershaw School]], and Martyn succeeded him to become the second headmaster of the Doon School.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.garhwalpost.com/
| title = Dilsher Virk – Living John Martyn's legacy (dead link)
| date =
| publisher = Garhwalpost.com
| accessdate = 5 March 2012
}}</ref> Martyn was at Doon for 31 years, thus becoming one of the longest-serving schoolmasters in the school's history. Of those 31 years, 18 were spent as Headmaster, making him the school's longest-serving Headmaster to date.

Apart from teaching, Martyn was very keen on mountaineering, and was part of the expedition team to [[Trisul]] with pioneers like [[Jack Gibson (schoolmaster)|Jack Gibson]], [[Gurdial Singh (mountaineer)|Gurdial Singh]] and [[Nandu Jayal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/02/24/stories/2002022400630800.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020428043058/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/02/24/stories/2002022400630800.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 April 2002 |title=Climb every mountain |date=24 February 2002 |work=[[The Hindu]] |accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.himalayanclub.org/journal/early-years-of-indian-mountaineering/ |title=Early Years of Indian Mountaineering |publisher=Himalayan Club |date= |accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref><ref>http://jtmgibson.typepad.com/JTMG_HJ_martyn.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> He, along with Jack Gibson, climbed [[Bandarpunch]] with [[Tenzing Norgay]], who later became the first man to climb [[Mount Everest]].<ref>[http://www.himalayanclub.org/journal/in-memoriam-43/ IN MEMORIAM | Himalayan Club]</ref>

==Honours and distinctions==
Martyn was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] by [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] in 1958, and in 1983 [[Padma Shri]], the fourth-highest civilian award in India, from the [[Government of India]] for his notable contributions to the establishment of the Doon School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.himalayanclub.org/journal/in-memoriam-43/ |title=In Memoriam |publisher=Himalayan Club |date= |accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref> He was one of the few Englishmen to have been honoured by both the governments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.himalayanclub.org/journal/in-memoriam-43/ |title=In Memoriam |publisher=Himalayan Club |date= |accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref> He was also a member of the famed [[Alpine Club]].

After his death in 1984, his wife Mady Martyn wrote a book about him entitled ''Martyn Sahib, the story of John Martyn of the Doon School''. In his honour, his wife and Martyn's friends set up ''John Martyn Memorial Trust'' in a village at the foothills of [[Himalayas]] called Salangaon. The trust runs a school for underprivileged children and provides free education to over 150 children.<ref>[http://www.jmmt.in/about-john-martyn.html About John Martyn – John Martyn Memorial Trust] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120802161400/http://www.jmmt.in/about-john-martyn.html |date=2 August 2012 }}</ref>

[[The Doon School#Houses|Martyn House]], a holding-house for new students at Doon, was named after him.

==See also==
*[[Role of The Doon School in Indian mountaineering]]

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://archive.today/20121219012747/http://fullcirclebooks.in/content/chhota-hazri-days-doscos-yatra ''Chhota Hazri Days: A Dosco's Yatra''] by Sanjiv Bathla, [[Rupa & Co.]], 2010 {{ISBN|978-81-291-1694-9}}.
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=oFRF6vs5algC&q=Doon+School&dq=the+doon+school+sixty+years+on+pushpinder&source=gbs_word_cloud_r&cad=5#v=snippet&q=Doon%20School&f=false ''The Corporeal Image''] by David McDougall, [[Princeton University Press]], 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-691-12156-7}}.
*[https://books.google.com/books/about/Martyn_Sahib_the_story_of_John_Martyn_of.html?id=CdU2AAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y ''Martyn Sahib, the story of John Martyn of the Doon School''], by Mady Martin, [[University of California Press]], 1985.
*[https://books.google.com/books/about/For_hills_to_climb.html?id=3sVlHQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y ''For Hills To Climb''] by Gurdial Singh and Nalni Dhar, The Doon School Old Boys' Society, 2001.
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=vUnF8fl2dzcC&dq=doon+school&source=gbs_navlinks_s ''An Indian Englishman''] by Jack Gibson, [[Lulu (company)|Lulu Press]], 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-4357-3461-6}}
*[https://books.google.com/books/about/Doon_the_story_of_a_school.html?id=NEdmQgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y ''Doon, The Story of a School''], IPSS (1985) edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985.
* [https://books.google.com/books?q=Constructing+PostColonial+India:+National+Character+and+the+Doon+School, ''Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School''] by Sanjay Srivastva, published by [[Routledge]] 1998 {{ISBN|0-203-98027-1}}.

==External links==
* [https://archive.today/20120802161400/http://www.jmmt.in/about-john-martyn.html John Martyn Profile Page]
* [http://www.jmmt.in/ John Martyn Memorial Trust Website ]

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
||before= [[Arthur Foot]]
|title= Headmaster of [[The Doon School]]
|years=1948–1966
|after=[[C. J. Miller]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{The Doon School}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martyn, John A.K.}}
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Teachers at Harrow School]]
[[Category:The Doon School faculty]]
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:Headmasters of The Doon School]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education]]
[[Category:20th-century English educators]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

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John Martyn (schoolmaster)