Joseph Martin (24 September 1852 – 2 March 1923) was a lawyer and politician in Manitoba, British Columbia and the United Kingdom often referred to as "Fighting Joe".

He was a telegraph operator and afterwards obtained a First-class Teacher's certificate, and was appointed principal of the public school in New Edinburgh, Ontario.

[2] He was first elected as the member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for the Portage la Prairie riding in 1883 and served as Attorney-General in the government of Thomas Greenway.

Semlin reconstituted his ministries and met the legislature facing strong opposition from Martin, often requiring the Speaker of the house to break ties by using his casting vote.

Following the election, Prime Minister Laurier dismissed McInnes and appointed Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière as lieutenant governor.

[6] He moved to the United Kingdom where he won a seat in the British House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament for St Pancras East.

In December 1911, Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, had announced to the House of Commons that the British fleet was ready for war.

Martin fiercely attacked the Admiralty over the grounding of the warship Niobe "only to be completely and unceremoniously silenced by a biting answer from the First Lord.

By 1914 the association did not want Martin to continue as their MP and in May selected Richard Leopold Reiss to be their candidate for the general election expected to be called late 1914/early 1915.

[9] In July Martin announced that he would instead resign his seat and return to his native Canada, allowing Reiss to run against a Unionist in the by-election.

In August war was declared, the general election was deferred, Reiss resigned as candidate to enlisted and Martin continued as MP.