He was a member and alderman of the town council from 1884 to 1910; he was mayor of the town in 1898-9, and chairman of the education committee for six years. He tried hard to get the University College of South Wales sited at Swansea, but the choice fell on Cardiff. He was, however, successful in getting for his town a technical school which, subsequently, became a technical college. Martin, with the help of Sir Isambard Owen (q.v.), then sought to have the technical college recognised as one of the constituent colleges of the University of Wales, but in this he was not successful. He urged upon the Haldane Commission on Welsh university education (1916-18) the necessity of having a university college at Swansea which would specialize in technical education; it was founded in 1920, and when the foundation stone was laid by king George V, Martin was knighted. Besides obtaining a university college for his town, he was also responsible for building the Normal College on the Glanmor estate. Moreover, he worked hard to get other improvements for the town, for which he foresaw a brilliant future. He d. suddenly in London, 11 Sept. 1922, and was buried at Ystum Llwynarth (‘Oystermouth’), Swansea.