Robert Wallace Martin was born in London, England on 4 May 1843 and trained as a sculptor at South London Technical School of Art, Lambeth School of Art, and at the City and Guilds School of London. In 1873, with his three younger brothers, Charles Douglas Martin (1846-1910), Walter Fraser Martin (1857-1912) and Edwin Bruce Martin (1860-1915), he founded the Martin Brothers Pottery in Fulham, London. In 1877 the pottery relocated to Southall, Middlesex [now London] where it remained until 1914. The Martin Pottery is known for its Martinware, a hard salt-glazed stoneware, which included a range of bizarre and grotesque animal forms, influenced by Art Nouveau and Japonisme. In 1878 the pottery opened a retail outlet at 16 Brownlow Street, High Holborn, London, which closed in 1903 following a fire.