Ambrose Victor Martin

Ambrose Victor Martin (variably "Ambrosio" in Spanish or "Ambrosi" in Catalan) was an Irish-Argentinian known largely for his Irish republican activism in Argentina and Spain.

Ambrose Martin was born in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1901 to an Irish-Argentinian family from County Westmeath. Martin was raised in the small town of Suipacha alongside many other Argentinians of Irish descent. It was probably also during this time that he became acquainted with the many Basque-Argentinians who lived in Suipacha as well, as he would go on to become deeply involved in the Basque nationalist movement both in Spain and Latin America later in his life.

In 1914, he was sent off to Mullingar, Ireland to attend St. Finian's College, where he would spend the remainder of his childhood.

Following the 1916 Easter Rising, the young Ambrose Martin was swept up in the revolutionary fervour and became involved in Sinn Féin. Martin rose within the ranks of the movement, coming to be known as a vibrant orator, and befriending notable figures such as Laurence Ginnell, Eamon Bulfin, and Margaret Mary Pearse. He was arrested by the British authorities in 1919 and deported back to Argentina.

In Argentina, Ambrose Martin busily worked with Irish republicans to propagandize and raise funds for the movement back in Ireland. He even attempted to organize an IRA brigade in Argentina. After two years, Martin began to journey back to Ireland in 1922 after the pronouncement of the Anglo-Irish Treaty brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. On his way to Ireland, he made a stop in the Basque Country, where he was scheduled to give a series of lectures on Ireland to the youth group of the Basque Nationalist Party. Martin claimed to have 'old friends' from the area, likely going back to his early years in rural Buenos Aires. He made a great impression on the young Basque nationalists, whose press organ reported that "neverbeforehaveweseenourpatrioticyouthasimpassioned". Martin also gave an inaugural speech on Cumann na mBan for the Basque nationalist women's group Emakume Abertzale Batza ("Association of Patriot Women"). During this visit, he became good friends with Eli Gallastegi and other figures in the separatist Aberri faction of the Basque Nationalist Party.

Martin returned to Ireland in April 1922, shortly before the outbreak of the Irish Civil War. In the ensuing conflict between the IRA and the Irish Free State, Martin fought with the IRA against the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Captured by Free State forces and imprisoned at Athlone, he sought to leave Ireland at the end of the civil war, as did many other defeated anti-Treaty republicans. In 1924, he returned to the Basque Country, where he was taken in by his newfound allies. In late 1924 he was arrested by Spanish police alongside some Basque nationalists during a mendigoxale (mountaineering) outing. During the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), Basque nationalism was heavily persecuted, and Martin was obliged to leave.

Anti-Treaty political leader Éamon de Valera arranged for Ambrose Martin to stay with Catalan nationalists exiled in Paris. During this time, he became friends with Francesc Macià, leader of the Catalan separatist party Estat Català with whom he was lodged. He also came into contact with Leopold Kerney, Ireland's pioneering diplomat in France at the time. As his Catalan associates in Estat Català planned a military operation to invade Catalonia via France and proclaim an independent republic, Ambrose Martin supplied them with Irish republican propaganda and lessons in IRA tactics. This plan ultimately fell through, and Martin returned to Argentina in 1927.

Exiled in Argentina again, Ambrose Martin returned to Suipacha where he opened a business called the "Basque-Irish Café" catering to the local Basque and Irish diasporas.

In 1932, Éamon de Valera's Fianna Fáil party won the Irish election. With many old anti-Treatyites rehabilitated, Martin made his way back to Ireland after approximately eight years in exile. He again stopped first in the Basque Country where he gave another series of lectures which were received with much enthusiasm. Upon returning to Ireland, Martin received lucrative business licenses from the new government to open an import-export business. Amidst the early stages of the Anglo-Irish Trade War, Martin was well-positioned to make a fortune as he tapped new markets for Irish products. Martin established the Irish-Iberian Trading Company in Dublin, and his Basque partners set up a parallel import-export business in Bilbao called Euzkerin with which they cooperatively coordinated Basque-Irish trade.

With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Martin thrust himself into politics again. In January 1937, Martin assisted the Republican Congress when they brought over Basque priest Ramón Laborda for a publicity tour to raise support for the Second Spanish Republic in Ireland. For his sympathies with the republican government in Spain, Martin was denounced by TD Patrick Belton as "one of the most pronounced and prominent Communists in this country." Martin was a strong advocate for the Basque nationalists during the war, and relayed messages from the Basque government to the press in Ireland. Following the fall of pro-republican Basque territory to the rebel armies of Francisco Franco, Basque nationalist icon Eli Gallastegi moved his family to Ireland thanks to the efforts of his close friend Ambrose Martin.

Following a serious injury from being hit by a car, Ambrose Martin retired to a château he purchased in Brittany, France in 1938. Martin remained there for several years, from where he continued to run the Irish-Iberian Trading Company, now trading with Francoist Spain. He offered temporary shelter in his Breton manor to Basque nationalists fleeing Spain throughout the Second World War. Martin returned to Dublin after the war, living a relatively quiet life until a fatal heart attack in 1974.