Clements markham biography of donald

As Osborn talked about the coming expedition and the chance for adventure Markham was filled with enthusiasm and he lost no time in getting himself transferred to HMS Assistance, one of the principal search ships. The expedition sailed in May At the conclusion of the search expedition Markham faced a return to regular naval duty, a prospect which did not delight him and so he decided to leave the Navy and seek adventure elsewhere.

He reached Cuzco in March where he spent some time researching Inca history and describing the architecture and Inca ruins in the vicinity. On one trip out to some nearby ruins he ended up in area of San Miguel, La Mar, Ayacucho where he learnt about the medicinal properties of the cinchona plant, the only economically viable source of quinine.

In , having joined the India Office as a civil servant, Markham put forward a plan for transplanting cinchona plants from Peru and Bolivia to India where they could be grown in plantations to produce quinine. His superiors approved the plan and put Markham in charge of the mission. He arrived in Lima in January accompanied by the botanist Richard Spruce.

They successfully extracted sufficient plants to begin plantations in India, Sri Lanka and Burma but many of the original plants failed to flourish and were eaten by insects. Richard Spruce brought back further examples which were more suitable to conditions in India. Markham retained an interest in polar exploration and used his position as Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society to press for another Arctic expedition.

In he got his wish as the Admiralty launched an expedition to try and reach the North Pole via Smith Sound. The family received tributes from King George V , who acknowledged the debt the country owed to Markham's life work of study and research; from the Royal Geographical Society and the other learned bodies with which Markham had been associated; from the Naval Commander-in-Chief at Devonport; and from Fridtjof Nansen , the Norwegian Arctic explorer.

More critical assessments of Markham's life and work were to follow. Hugh Robert Mill , Shackleton's first biographer and for many years the RGS librarian, referred to the dictatorial manner in which Markham had run the Society. Bruce's colleague Robert Rudmose-Brown went further, calling Markham "that old fool and humbug". He added that "Scott and I were always good friends, in spite of Markham.

It has been suggested that Markham's prejudices about polar travel, particularly his belief in the "nobility" of manhauling , had been passed to Scott, to the detriment of all future British expeditions. The Markham River in Papua New Guinea was named after him; [ ] Carsten Borchgrevink discovered and named Markham Island in the Ross Sea during his expedition, [ ] a gesture that was not, however, acknowledged by Markham.

Markham's only child, May, avoided public life and devoted herself to church work in the East End of London. According to the family's entry in Burke's Landed Gentry she died in Markham was a prolific writer and diarist; his first published work, an account of his voyage with HMS Assistance in search of Franklin, had appeared in After his retirement from the India office in , writing became his chief source of income.

In addition to papers and reports for the Royal Geographical Society and other learned bodies, Markham wrote histories, biographies and travel accounts, many as full-length books. He also translated many works from Spanish to English, and compiled a grammar and dictionary for the Quichua language of Peru. His books include the following: [ ].

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikispecies Wikisource Wikidata item. British geographer — Minna Chichester. Cheam School Westminster School. Early life [ edit ]. Royal Navy [ edit ]. Naval cadet, — [ edit ]. First Arctic voyage, — [ edit ].

Main article: Franklin's lost expedition. Peruvian journeys [ edit ]. First journey, — [ edit ]. Cinchona mission, — [ edit ]. Civil servant, geographer, traveller [ edit ]. India Office, — [ edit ]. Abyssinia, — [ edit ]. Second Arctic voyage, — [ edit ]. Royal Geographical Society [ edit ]. Honorary secretary, — [ edit ]. President, — [ edit ].

National Antarctic Expedition, — [ edit ]. Main article: Discovery Expedition. Later life [ edit ]. Shackleton and Scott [ edit ]. Retirement [ edit ]. Death and legacy [ edit ]. Portrayal in media [ edit ]. Writings [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Footnotes [ edit ]. Cambridge University Press. Who's Who. The Life of Sir Clements R.

Markham, K. London: John Murray. William Markham, who was Archbishop of York from to It may be mentioned that Dr. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 April Subscription or UK public library membership required. Markham, pp. Markham, p. Retrieved 30 April The Geographical Journal.

Bibcode : GeogJ. JSTOR Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Clements markham biography of donald

Retrieved 6 October Government of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 29 March Archived from the original on 25 May Retrieved 6 May He decided to leave the Royal Navy taking issue with the amount of idleness that occupied long periods of his service along with his distaste for corporal punishment. He left the Royal Navy at the end of His initial exploration expeditions were to Peru and and India He was employed as a junior clerk in the Inland Revenue and then the India Office, which allowed him time off to travel.

He returned to the Arctic in He was elected to the Royal Geographical Society in and in he was appointed honorary secretary, a position he held for 25 years. Contribution to EB [ edit ]. As editor [ edit ]. Works about Markham [ edit ]. Toggle the table of contents. Author : Clements Robert Markham.