Biography:William Martin

Biographical notes
 William Martin (1836-1908) spent his early life in the village of Stenton, East Lothian, and was educated in London as a teacher. He returned to Scotland to teach in Banffshire where he was headmaster of the Inverkeithnie Public School, a post he held for twenty-seven years until moving to Edinburgh in 1901. In addition to being an excellent violinist in the Scottish style, he was a poet whose collection of poems and ballads was published in 1879 in Aberdeen. He was a friend of fiddler-composer J. Scott Skinner, and wrote a lyric to Skinner's composition "Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord." Marin also tried his hand at lutherie and produced a number of them, although they are not generally considered to be worthy instruments. See his compositions "Mr. Martin’s Compliments to Dr. Keith MacDonald," "Mr. Murray of Pittendreich" and "William Duguid--Fyvie."