MARKHAM

markham, sir clements robert (1830- ), english traveller, geographer and author, son of the rev. david f. markham, canon of windsor, and of catherine, daughter of sir w. milner, bart., of nunappleton, yorkshire, was born on the 20th of july 1830 at stillingfleet, near york, and educated at westminster school. he entered the navy in 1844, became midshipman in 1846, and passed for a lieutenant in 1851. in 1850-1851 he served on the franklin search expedition in the arctic regions, under captain austin. he retired from the navy in 1852, and in 1852-1854 travelled in peru and the forests of the eastern andes. he visited south america again in 1860-1861, in order to arrange for the introduction of the cinchona plant into india, a service of the highest value to humanity. in 1865-1866 he visited ceylon and india, to inspect and report upon the tinnevelly pearl-fishery and the cinchona plantations. on the abyssinian expedition of 1867-68 he served as geographer, and was present at the storming of magdala. in 1874 he accompanied the arctic expedition under sir george nares as far as greenland. in later years sir clements markham travelled extensively in western asia and the united states. in 1855 he became a clerk in the board of control. from 1867-1877 he was in charge of the geographical department of the indian office. he was secretary to the hakluyt society from 1858-1887, and became its president in 1890. from 1863-1888 he acted as secretary to the royal geographical society, and on his retirement received the society's gold medal for his distinguished services to geography. he was elected president of the same society in 1893, and retained office for the unprecedented period of twelve years, taking an active share in the work of the society and in increasing its usefulness in various directions. it was almost entirely due to his exertions that funds were obtained for the national antarctic expedition under captain robert scott, which left england in the summer of 1901. sir clements markham was elected f.r.s. in 1873; was created c.b. in 1871, and k.c.b. in 1896; became an honorary member of the principal geographical societies; and was president of the international geographical congress which met in london in 1895. sir clements markham conducted the _geographical magazine_ from 1872-1878, when it became merged in the _proceedings of the royal geographical society_. among his other publications may be mentioned the following: _franklin's footsteps_ (1852); _cuzco and lima_ (1856); _travels in peru and india_ (1862); _a quichua grammar and dictionary_ (1863); _spanish irrigation_ (1867); _a history of the abyssinian expedition_ (1869); _a life of the great lord fairfax_ (1870); _ollanta, a quichua drama_ (1871); _memoir on the indian surveys_ (1871; 2nd ed., 1878); _general sketch of the history of persia_ (1873); _the threshold of the unknown region_ (1874, 4 editions); _a memoir of the countess of chinchon_, (1875); _missions to thibet_, (1877; 2nd ed., 1879); _memoir of the indian surveys_; _peruvian bark_ (1880); _peru_ (1880); _the war between chili and peru_ (1879-81; 3rd ed., 1883); _the sea fathers_ (1885); _the fighting veres_ (1888); _paladins of king edwin_ (1896); _life of john davis the navigator_ (1889); a _life of richard iii._ (1906), in which he maintained that the king was not guilty of the murder of the two princes in the tower; also lives of _admiral fairfax_, _admiral john markham_, _columbus_ and _major rennel_; _a history of peru_; editions with introductions of twenty works for the hakluyt society, of which fourteen were also translations; about seventy papers in the royal geographical society's _journal_; the _reports on the moral and material progress of india_ for 1871-1872 and 1872-1873; _memoir of sir john harington_ for the roxburghe club (1880); the peruvian chapters for j. winsor's _history of america_, and the chapters on discovery and surveying for clowes's _history of the navy_.