“Our much loved friend and colleague Martin Collier died suddenly last Thursday. Martin had been ill for some time and suffered a mild heart attack the previous weekend. He seemed to have recovered and was discharged, but suffered a major heart attack and died in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Martin was born on 23 September 1959. He grew up near Great Yarmouth and later in Farnham, Surrey. He won a place to study law at Mansfield College, Oxford, graduating in 1981. Martin dabbled in student politics, but his focus was always on his aspiration to become a barrister. He was called to the Bar in 1982. After further study in London, Martin joined Fenners Chambers as a pupil in October 1983, spending 6 months as Jon Haworth’s pupil, then 6 months with me. We had no hesitation in inviting him to join us as a member of chambers in 1984.
Martin quickly established a good practice, initially in all areas of law, like most young barristers in those days. Over time, he increasingly specialised and during the latter part of his career was essentially a chancery lawyer, in the fields of trust, probate and property law. This suited Martin’s temperament. His advocacy reflected his nature. He was courteous, careful and patient in court; there was no place for histrionics and rudeness in his advocacy. He was a really good black letter lawyer. As a fellow property lawyer, I had the benefit of reading Martin’s advices when covering hearings in cases when he was committed elsewhere, and his skeleton arguments when we were on opposing sides. They were always models of clarity, lucidity, and concision.
Martin met Sharon a little time after becoming a tenant in Chambers. They subsequently married and had two children, Alexandra (“Alex”) and George, but sadly divorced in 2002. Martin moved to St Ives, where he really threw himself into the life of the town. Sharon died several years ago.
Martin became heavily involved in the work of All Saints Parish Church, becoming a churchwarden for several years. He also became a key figure in the fight to save the town’s failing Corn Exchange, and later became a director of the community interest company that turned it into the thriving arts and entertainment venue it is today. That led in turn to his becoming one of the group of Independents who felt that the domination of party politics had been harmful to the Town Council and the town. They secured a majority on the Council, and a highlight of Martin’s years in St Ives was his eventual election as Mayor, with Alex as mayoress. In a conversation with me, a St Ivo resident referred to Martin some years ago as a St Ives institution. To become that, as someone who had only moved to the town in 2002, speaks tellingly of his fellow residents’ awareness of Martin’s role in the life of St Ives.
Martin was an integral part of Chambers. He was a valued pupil supervisor and, in due course, was elected as Head of Chambers for several years. Martin was a very traditional person: he was the last member of Fenners to stop wearing pinstripe trousers to court from time to time. He was also a private person and did not want to trouble others with any problems he might have had: he made light of the issues relating to his health. Despite his ill health, he was still an active member of chambers, working up to a few weeks before his death, and was elected to serve a fresh term as churchwarden in April. We only spoke on the phone the day before he died, about the ins and outs of town and parish council procedures.
All of us at Fenners, whether we had known him for many years or for few, were shocked and saddened by Martin’s death and will miss him greatly. We remember Alex and George in our thoughts.”
Words by Andrew Gore