Markham, Clements Robert (1830–1916)

Clements Robert Markham (b. 20 July 1830; d. 30 January 1916), British writer, translator, geographer, and historian. Born in Stil-lingfleet, Yorkshire, Markham was the son of the Reverend David F. and Catherine Markham. He studied at Westminster School and then, in 1844, he entered the navy.

Markham traveled and studied widely in Latin America and Asia. He spent a year in Peru (1852–1853), where he examined Inca ruins, learned the Quechua and Spanish languages, and translated some materials into English. He served as secretary (1858–1886) and later president (1889–1909) of the Hakluyt Society and translated and edited twenty-two books for that organization. He was also elected secretary (1863–1888) and president (1893–1905) of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1892, Markham wrote his History of Peru. Meanwhile, he sought to use some of what he learned in Peru to assist British development in India. In addition, he studied the irrigation systems of southeastern Spain. Critics claimed that while he had a remarkable career and eventually was knighted by the British government, his interests were too diverse and his work sometimes weakened by spreading himself too thin over too wide an academic area.

See alsoBritish-Latin American Relations .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harry Bernstein and Bailey W. Diffie, Sir Clements R. Markham as a Translator (1937).

Bailey W. Diffie, "A Markham Contribution to the Leyenda Negra," in Hispanic American Historical Review 16 (1936): 96-103.

Albert H. Markham, The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham (1917).

                                      Jack Ray Thomas