23 December 1933
Mr. Joseph Martin, of Canton Street, Poplar, who has died as the result of a street accident, retired about a year ago from the position of official photographer to the Metropolitan Police, which he held for half a century. It was his duty to photograph the bodies of unknown persons in the Metropolitan Police area. It fell to his lot to photograph the features of women killed by Jack the Ripper in the narrow alleys of Whitechapel and Commercial Road, and the victims of many other murders. Mr. Martin was also in private business in the West India Dock Road as a photographer for over 40 years, and before he took up the camera he was a musician and played in the music halls.