According to the Martin book: Fernand Martin Toymaker in Paris. page 110 there are two versions of the L’ homme de corvée, Martin number 173, in the text on this page it is not clear why they differ. They both have different clothes and a different cap
This toy is mentioned in a French newspaper from 1900 and in the text in this newspaper it is mentioned that there are a French soldier and an English sailor. I have not been able to verify this claim but it could be very plausible.
Part of the text from the article: LES JOUETS DE L’ANNÉE in the French newspaper: Le Patriote de la Vendée 1900, Journal de Politique, Agricole et Commercial, Organe d’union Républicaine.
Translation: Then it is the “duty man”, a small French soldier or English sailor, depending on the country of destination, who operates a broom
A catalog page /box label is known. It is also not known if two different boxes were released or if they were both sold in the same box, I presume in the same box as the instructions for use are written on this label are in French, English and Spanish.
Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions, Catalog label and postcard are from my own collection. French newspaper article source gallica.bnf.fr: Le Patriote de la Vendée 1900, Journal de Politique, Agricole et Commercial, Organe d’union Républicaine