James Martin (aka Antonio Martini) (1857-1924), of Maltese origin, was a sail maker by tradition, who joined an American ship sailing from India to Zanzibar where it was wrecked. He worked as a handyman at the Church Missionary Society mission at Freetown, and then in 1883-4, accompanied Joseph Thomson through Masailand before becoming second in command of the Sultan of Zanzibar's troops. Martin next entered the service of the Imperial British East Africa Company, accompanying Gedge and Jackson’s expeditions and leading caravans. Subsequently he was in Government service and after his retirement managed a rubber plantation. During the First World War he worked in Intelligence and with Belgian ox transport.