Martin served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, and subsequently entered the University of Sydney to study education.
He entered the newly established Australian National University (ANU) as the first doctoral student in the Research School of the Social Sciences; he completed his PhD in 1955.
His doctoral thesis, supervised by Laurie Fitzhardinge and Robin Gollan, examined the political history of New South Wales in the 19th century.
Writing for The Canberra Times, Jeffrey Grey found the first volume to be "an immensely readable and marvellously scholarly book".
Martin also co-authored books about the emergence of the Australian party system and a biographical register of New South Wales parliamentarians.