Colonel Denys Richard Martin (1892–1970). ranks among the most distinguished philatelists of the Twentieth century. As a systematic scholar and prolific writer, Martin illuminated some of the most difficult topics and set a high standard for the study of the postage stamps and postal history of India

Postage stamps and postal history of India

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of India.Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. When the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish and British displaced the Mughals, their postal systems...

 and Burma.

Life

As a regular British Army officer of the Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

, Martin arrived in India during the First World War and travelled throughout the subcontinent during the next twenty years.

Philately

Martin's collection included postal history material from the Persian Field Force, the Abyssinian campaigns and the Treaty Ports, which are now in the Government of India's collection.

He was a member of the India Study Circle.

Awards

• Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London (FRPSL).
• Crawford Medal
  Crawford Medal
  The Crawford Medal is a vermeil medal awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society London for the most valuable and original contribution to the study and knowledge of philately published in book form during the relevant period....
  
   for The Four Annas Lithographed Stamps of India, 1854-55, 1932.
• Signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists
  Roll of Distinguished Philatelists
  The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921...
  
   in 1939.

Publications

• D. R. Martin and E. A. Smythies, Half Anna Lithographed Stamps of India (1928)
• D. R. Martin and E. A. Smythies, The Four Annas Lithographed Stamps of India, 1854-55. Philatelic Society of India
  Philatelic Society of India
  The Philatelic Society of India was formed in 1897 by a group of, mainly, expatriate Englishmen resident in the country as the first all-India philatelic society...
  
   and Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London (1930).
• D. R. Martin, five appendices in L. E. Dawson, The One Anna and Two Annas Postage Stamps of India, 1854-55. Philatelic Society of India, H. Garratt-Adams & Co. and Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., London (1948): Die I, A Stone, No. 7 - p. 66; Die I, B Stone, Nos. 2, 28 and 64 - p. 67; India, 1854. Pin Perforated - p. 73; One Anna, 1854, Numbers Printed - p. 75; and The Two Annas, 1854, Some Problems - p. 81.
• Gerald Davis
  Gerald Davis (philatelist)
  Gerald Davis : architect, graphic designer, postal historian and philatelist. His 1971 Burma Postal History is a classic study, both readable and comprehensive.-Life:...
  
   and Denys Martin, Burma Postal History, Including the 1987 Supplement. Robson Lowe
  Robson Lowe
  John Harry Robson Lowe , Robbie to his friends, was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer.- Life and career :...
  
  , London (1971). 204 pp, illustrated, plus 38 pages of addenda and corrigenda.
• D. R. Martin, The Second Afghan War (1961).
• D. R. Martin and G. C. Danby, The Bombay-Karachi Sea Post Office (1963).
• D. R. Martin, Pakistan Overprints on Indian Stamps, 1948-49, London: Robson Lowe (1959).
• D. R. Martin, Indian Travelling Post Office
  Travelling Post Office
  A Travelling Post Office was a type of mail train in the UK where the post was sorted en-route. The last Travelling Post Office services were ended on 9 January 2004, with the carriages used now sold for scrap or to preservation societies....
  
  s 1864-1891. Robson Lowe, London (1969). First printed in The Philatelist.
• D. R. Martin, Numbers in Early Indian Cancellations, Robson Lowe (1970).
• D. R. Martin, ed. Neil Blair Overseas Letter Postage from India 1854-1876 (1975), 72 pp.