He also took a keen interest in the establishment of the scientific study of sociology in association with his boyhood friend Patrick Geddes and was an enthusiastic supporter of the development of the pipe organ.
J Martin White studied engineering at Cassel in Germany and was very interested in the technological innovations of his time, becoming chairman of the Dundee Technical Institute.
[6] When the Liberal member of parliament for Forfarshire, Sir John Rigby was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1894, it was expected that White would be the party's candidate at the ensuing by-election.
This was initially denied by his private secretary, who stated that he simply gone to India on business, and expected to return for the opening of parliament.
[11] The reason for the rumours circulating in Dundee and for his resignation were that a court case for breach of promise to marry had been brought by clergyman's daughter Helen Grant.
The party decided not to contest the seat, allowing James Morrison, an army officer, invalided from the front in South Africa, to be returned unopposed.
He lodged an election petition,[15] attempting to have the result overturned due to alleged bribery, treating and illegal payments by his Conservative opponent Arthur Fell.
[16] However, the outcome was widely denounced as perverse, and was one of a series of election petition judgments in which Grantham (himself a former Conservative MP) was seen to have acted in a partisan manner.
[19] White developed a close friendship with Patrick Geddes, and endowed a chair of botany for him at University College Dundee.
Geddes was developing the field of sociology, and White began generously funding the teaching of the subject at the University of London.
In the central hall at Balruddery he had installed an organ that, originally built by Casson and voiced by Thynne, had been reconstructed by Hope-Jones with electric action, double and pizzicato touches and some new stops.