page_title: Claude Martin
section_title: As hot air balloonist
hierarchical_section_title: Claude Martin / Claude Martin's different facets / As hot air balloonist
context_page_description: Major General Claude Martin was an officer in the French, and later the English East India Company's army in India. He rose to the rank of Major General in the English East India Company's Bengal Army. Martin was born in Lyon, France, into a humble background, and was a self-made man who left a substantial lasting legacy in the form of his writings, buildings and the educational institutions he founded posthumously. There are now ten schools named after him, two in Lucknow, two in Calcutta and six in Lyon. The small village of Martin Purwa in India was also named after him.
context_section_description: Claude Martin's wide interests included hot air balloons and he was instrumental in introducing a montgolfier to the Nawab and aristocracy of Lucknow in 1785 less than two years after its flight in France.
  Allan Sealy in his historic novel Trotter-nama features this aspect of Claude Martin.
caption: First public demonstration in Annonay, France in 1783
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