Education
Martin West studied at Balliol College, Oxford, before joining the British East India Company.
Martin West studied at Balliol College, Oxford, before joining the British East India Company.
He served in Bombay but had to retire on grounds of ill-health and became Resident Magistrate in Grahamstown, South Africa. From this post, he was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor and the first civilian administrator of the Colony of Natal in 1845, still a dependency of the Cape. He was retired from the Natal governorship in 1849 and died that year.
Durban"s West Street and the suburb of Westville are named after him.