Clements Markham

Sir Clements Robert Markham ( born July 20 1830 in Stillingfleet, Yorkshire, † January 30, 1916, London ) was a British explorer, author and geographer.

As President of the Royal Geographical Society in the late 19th century Markham played a major role in the organization and financing of British polar expeditions. At his suggestion, for example, the appointment of Robert Falcon Scott as head of the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904) goes back. Graham's personal main objective was that a Briton was the first to both poles of the Earth reached a goal that has not been realized.

Life and work

Markham was born in Stillingfleet, Yorkshire and educated at Westminster School. He was a member of the Royal Navy in 1844 and as such was a member of the team who were searching for John Franklin. After his return from this mission search Markham was appointed lieutenant, however, he joined the Royal Navy in 1852 with the goal of becoming explorers in South America. This goal, however he has been putting off for the time being, since the death of his father had difficult financial circumstances result for him. To fix this, he had to take a number of office jobs in London.

As an employee of the India Office Markham, however, managed to convince his superiors to perform the Peruvian tree bark China to India. Thus, the possibility was given to him to indulge his wanderlust. That this tree whose bark was use in malaria disease, could be successfully cultivated in India and other British colonies, is largely due to Markham.

From 1865 to 1866 he stayed in what was then Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and India, where he attended the local Chinarindenbaum tree plantations. As a geographer, he accompanied an expedition to Ethiopia and joined in 1874 an Arctic expedition that led him to Greenland. During this time, he dealt a lot with the methodology by which the Royal Navy was concerned the Arctic expeditions. This included the so-called "man- hauling " in which the expedition members had to pull heavy loads on carriage on foot. He held this methodology also decided yet, as other nations ( such as the Norwegian Roald Amundsen around ) the survival skills of the Inuit tested and adapted for their own purposes, such as the use of sled dogs.

From 1867 to 1877 he headed the geographical division of the British "Indian Office " and from 1863 to 1888 he served as secretary of the Royal Geographic Society. From 1893 to 1905 he was the president of this society. His election to the presidency came at a time when interest in polar expeditions increased again. To a financing of an Antarctic expedition by the British Admiralty, it did not come as a result of the incipient arms race with Germany the necessary financial resources should be used elsewhere.

Markham then tried to put a privately funded expedition to the legs, which turned out to be very difficult. The expedition, which was eventually led by Robert Falcon Scott, delay finally came after two years of only being after still 45,000 British pounds were contributed.

Works (selection)

  • Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 1872-1878 (Editor)
  • Franklin's Footsteps: a sketch of Greenland along the shores End of month his expedition passed, and of the Parry Isles where the load traces of it were found. - London: Chapman and Hall, 1853
  • Cuzco: a Journey to the Ancient Capital of Peru; with an Account of the History, Language, Literature and Antiquities of the Incas; and Lima: a Visit to the Capital and Provinces of Modern Peru. - London: Chapman and Hall, 1856 (. Edition: Periodicals Service Company, 1972, ISBN 0-527-61450-5 )
  • Travels in Peru and India: while superintending the collection of cinchona plants ... and Their introduction into India. - London: John Murray, 1862
  • Contributions towards a Grammar and Dictionary of the Quichua, the Language of the Incas of Peru. - London: Trübner & Co. 1864
  • Report on the Irrigation of Eastern Spain. - London, 1867
  • A History of the Abyssinian Expedition. - London: Macmillan, 1869
  • Life of the great Lord Fairfax: commander -in-chief of the Army of the Parliament of England. - London: Macmillan, 1870
  • Ollanta, a Quichua drama. - London:. N. Truner & Co., 1871
  • Memoir on the Indian Surveys. - London: Allen & Co., 1871 ( reprint: New Delhi, Manohar, 2004, ISBN 81-7304-526-7. )
  • A General Sketch of the History of Persia (1873 )
  • The Threshold of the Unknown Region. - London: S. Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873
  • Memoir of the Lady Anna di Osoria, Countess of cinchona and Vice - Queen of Peru. - London, 1874
  • Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa. - London, 1879
  • Memoir of the Indian Surveys. - London: WH Allen and Co., 1878 (reprint: New Delhi, Manohar, 2004, ISBN 81-7304-526-7. )
  • Peru ( 1880)
  • The War in between Chili and Peru, from 1879 to 1882. - London, Edinburgh: S. Low, Marston, and Company, 1883
  • The Sea Fathers: A Series of Lives of Great Navigators of Former Times. - London: Cassell, 1884
  • The Fighting Veres: Lives of Sir Francis Vere, general of the queen's forces in the Low countries, governor of the Brill and of Portsmouth, and of Sir Horace Vere, general of the English forces in the Low countries, governor of the Brill, master -general of ordnance, and baron Vere of Tilbury. - London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, , 1888.
  • Paladins of Edwin the Great (1896 )
  • A life of John Davis, the navigator, 1550-1605: discoverer of Davis Straits. - New York: Dodd, Mead; London: George Philip & Sons, 1889
  • Richard III: His Life and Character Renewed in the Light of Recent Research. - London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1906
  • The Incas of Peru. - London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1910
  • Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, AD1403 -6: Translated, for the First Time, with Notes, a Preface and Introductory Life of Timour Beg at (Hardcover) 1859
Pound sterling Thomas Manning (sinologist) John Davis (English explorer) Integrated Authority File
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