The Martin Brothers pottery was founded by the eldest of the group, Robert Wallace Martin (1843–1923), who had trained in sculpture at Lambeth School of Art and later at the Royal Academy of Art.

By the late 1860s he had set up his first workshop, making terracotta sculpture. In 1873, he set up a new pottery with his brothers, Charles, Walter and Edwin Martin in Fulham. In 1877 they moved to Southall, where they made salt-glazed stoneware with Gothic Revival influences, known as ‘Martinware’.

The Martin Brothers became famous for their eccentric, grotesquely modeled ‘Wally Birds’, wheel-thrown and sculpted face jugs, vases and other items reminiscent of art and architecture of the Middle Ages.

The firm produced only stoneware and each piece produced between 1873 and the closure of the company in 1915 was unique and individually signed and dated. Today, pieces made by the Martin Brothers are extremely collectable and valuable.