Editing Clements Markham (section)

{{Short description|British geographer (1830–1916)}}
{{Featured article}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 |honorific_prefix   = [[Sir]]
 |name               = Clements Markham
 |honorific_suffix   = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|FRS|FRSGS}}
 |image              = BHL48382052 (cropped).jpg
 |image_upright      = 1.1
 |caption            = Markham in 1905
 |office             = [[President of the Royal Geographical Society|President of the {{nowr|Royal Geographical Society}}]]
 |term               = {{start and end dates|1893|05|29|1905|05|22|df=y}}
 |predecessor        = [[Sir Mountstuart Duff]]
 |successor          = [[Sir George Goldie]]
 |birth_name         = Clements Robert Markham
 |birth_date         = {{birth date|1830|07|20|df=y}}
 |birth_place        = [[Stillingfleet|Stillingfleet, York]], England
 |death_date         = {{death date and age|1916|01|30|1830|07|20|df=y}}
 |death_place        = [[London, Middlesex]], England
 |spouse             = {{marriage|Minna Chichester|1857}}
 |parents            = [[David Frederick Markham]]
 |relatives          = [[Sir Albert Markham]] (cousin)
 |education          = {{ubl|[[Cheam School]]|[[Westminster School]]}}
 |occupation         = Explorer, geographer, writer
 |signature          = Signature of Clements Robert Markham (1830–1916).png
 |awards             = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal]] (1888)
* [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (1896)}}
 |branch_label       = Branch
 |branch             = [[Royal Navy]]
 |serviceyears_label = Service&nbsp;years
 |serviceyears       = 1844–1852
 |rank               = [[Midshipman]]
 |unit_label         = Ships
 |unit               = {{HMS|Collingwood|1841|2}}, {{HMS|Assistance|1850|2}}
 |battles_label      = Expeditions
 |battles            = [[#First Arctic voyage, 1850–1851|Austin expedition]]&nbsp;(1850)
}}

'''Sir Clements Robert Markham''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB|FRS|FRSGS}} (20 July 1830&nbsp;– 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] (RGS) between 1863 and 1888,<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Markham, Sir Clements Robert|volume=17 |pages=734–735}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=MARKHAM, Sir Clements Robert|journal=Who's Who|year=1905|volume= 57|page=1073|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEVLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1073|last1=Addison|first1=Henry Robert|last2=Oakes|first2=Charles Henry|last3=Lawson|first3=William John|last4=Sladen|first4=Douglas Brooke Wheelton}}</ref> and later served as the Society's president for a further 12&nbsp;years. In the latter capacity he was mainly responsible for organising the [[British National Antarctic Expedition]] of 1901–1904, and for launching the polar career of [[Robert Falcon Scott]].

Markham began his career as a [[Royal Navy]] cadet and [[midshipman]], during which time he went to the [[Arctic]] with {{HMS|Assistance|1850|6}} in one of the many searches for [[Franklin's lost expedition]]. Later, Markham served as a geographer to the [[India Office]], and was responsible for the collection of [[cinchona]] plants from their native Peruvian forests, and their transplantation in India. By this means, the Indian government acquired a home source from which [[quinine]] could be extracted. Markham also served as geographer to Sir [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier]]'s Abyssinian expeditionary force, and was present in 1868, at the [[Battle of Magdala|fall of Magdala]].

The main achievement of Markham's RGS presidency was the revival at the end of the 19th century of British interest in Antarctic exploration, after a 50-year interval. He had strong and determined ideas about how the National Antarctic Expedition should be organised, and fought hard to ensure that it was run primarily as a naval enterprise, under Scott's command. To do this he overcame hostility and opposition from much of the scientific community. In the years following the expedition he continued to champion Scott's career, to the extent of disregarding or disparaging the achievements of other contemporary explorers.

All his life Markham was a constant traveller and a prolific writer, his works including histories, travel accounts and biographies. He authored many papers and reports for the RGS, and did much editing and translation work for the [[Hakluyt Society]], of which he also became president in 1890.<ref name=EB1911/> He received public and academic honours, and was recognised as a major influence on the discipline of geography, although it was acknowledged that much of his work was based on enthusiasm rather than scholarship. Among the geographical features bearing his name is Antarctica's [[Mount Markham]], named after him by Scott in 1902.