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Markham C

Name: Sir Clements Robert Markham

Achievements: 19th-century geographical and historical writer, who introduced cinchona from Peru to India.

Born: July 20, 1830; Stillingfleet, Yorkshire, England

Died: January 30, 1916; London, England (Aged 85)

Field & Discipline: Geography

Language: English

Father: David F. Markham

Mother: Catherine Milner

Siblings: One elder brother

Spouse: Minna Chichester

Children: One daughter

Education: Westminster College, London (1842-44)

Major Work:

“Lands of Silence” (1921)

Life & Times:

Clements Robert Markham was born in 1830 at Stillingfleet, Yorkshire, England, into a clerical family of some social standing. His grandfather was William Markham, archbishop of York (1777-1807) and tutor to King George IV and King William IV, his father the Rev. David F. Markham, vicar of Stillingfleet and canon of Windsor, and his mother Catherine Milner daughter of Sir William Milner, a baronet.

He received his early education from private tutors, and at the age of 12 was sent to Westminster College, London, where he remained for two years.

In 1844, still aged only 14, Markham joined the Royal Navy as a cadet, and spent the next four years on the HMS “Collingwood” on the British Pacific station. During this time, the ship docked at various South American ports, and Markham used the opportunity to learn Spanish, while spending much of his leisure time reading travel books and writing accounts of the different countries he visited.

Although he disliked many aspects of naval life, he realized the value of its training and experience, and in 1848 he signed up for another three years, primarily in order to secure the position of midshipman on HMS “Assistance,” in which capacity he sailed under Captain Austin on the expedition in search of the Arctic explorer [searched for] John Franklin* and his crew (1850-51), during which Franklin's records were located. On his return, Markham wrote the first of his many works on this expedition, “Franklin's Footsteps” (1853).

In December 1851, now aged 21, Markham left the navy and in early 1852 he sailed first for the United States, where he visited the Boston historian William Hickling Prescott, and then for South America. Markham spent much of the ensuing year exploring and studying the Inca ruins on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru, a period which marked the beginning of a lifelong fascination with South American history, society, culture and politics.

On his return to London in 1853, he entered the civil service, and in 1854 was transferred to the board of the [on board of] East India Company*, which in 1858 was incorporated in the new India Office. In 1854 he joined the Royal Geographical Society, London, and in 1857 he married Minna Chichester, an accomplished writer and linguist, with whom he had one daughter.

During his Peruvian trip, Markham had learned of the particular effectiveness of Peruvian quinine in the treatment of malaria, and in 1860, having persuaded his superior officers at the India Office of this fact, at the suggestion of  [supported by] William Jackson Hooker* he was given the task of organizing and undertaking the collection of a group of young cinchona trees and seeds from the forests on the eastern slopes of the Andes

and the acclimatization of these plants in India.

Markhamwrote two works on his experiences during this period, “Travels in Peru and India While Superintending the Collection of Chinchona Plants and Seeds in South America, and Their Introduction Into India” (1862), and “Peruvian Bark” (1880), and his work marked the beginning of a series of such projects.

The most important were those organized by [employed by] Joseph Hooker* at Kew Gardens during the 1870s, in which consignments of economically useful plants (most notably, rubber, which had been smuggled out of Brazil) from South America were first propagated at Kew Gardens and then sent to India and other colonies.

He was by now developing into a well-known and respected geographer, already appointed as secretary of the Hakluyt Society (1858) and the Geographical Society (1863). In 1867, he was placed in charge of the geographical work of the India Office, and during the next decade he wrote extensively on issues of geography, economic botany, and technology relating to the development of the colonies of the British Empire.

During the 1870s he edited the “Geographical Magazine” (1872-78), and was active in encouraging the revival of Arctic exploration, in 1875 sailing as far as Greenland with the

expedition led by Sir George Strong Nares, on which his cousin (and future biographer) Albert Hastings Markham was second-in-command.

In 1877, Markham left the India Office in order to devote his time to the promotion of geographical exploration, research and scholarship. By now convinced of the importance of historical geography, he began unearthing and studying many historical records in relation to physical geography. Under his direction, the Hakluyt Society began publishing a series of historical accounts of exploration.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Markham also dedicated much effort setting up of schools of geography at the universities of Oxford (1887, headed by [work related to] Mackinder*) and Cambridge (1888). Markham was then elected president of the Geographical Society (1893-1905), during which time the Society's “Geographical Journal” became "the chief repository of geographical information from all parts of the

world.”

In the late 1890s, during his presidency of the Geographical Society, Markham also became a major advocate and campaigner for investment in Antarctic exploration, as he considered the region offered British explorers the single great remaining geographical challenge. During this period, in  close association with the Royal Society, he established a research committee for polar exploration, and wrote a series of papers on the

subject.

This campaign eventually led to the securing of sufficient funds for the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901, to which Markham - strongly opposing the drive from the Royal Society to appoint a scientist - appointed the naval officer [appointed] RF Scott* as leader. Scott's first expedition to the Antarctic, on the “Discovery” (1901-04) was extremely successful, and marked the high-point of Markham's exploration program.

After his presidency of the Geographical Society ceased in 1905, Markham continued in support of further Antarctic expeditions, and played an active role in planning and promoting Scott's second, fatal voyage on the “Terra Nova” in 1910-12.

Assessment: Sir Clements Markham was an important 19th-century English geographer and geographical writer.

Oneliner: Clements Markham, geographer and writer

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