Educated at Hackney College, he was a Liverpool merchant and pamphleteer who was a member of William Roscoe's circle. He married a sister of Roscoe's botanical friend, Sir James Edward Smith.

CORRESPONDENCE OF Thomas Martin:

William Roscoe to William Rathbone the younger, [September? 1816] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

John Gibson to Thomas Martin, [5 March 1827] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)