Markham, Sir Clements Robert (1830-1916)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 MS.7308 and WMS/Amer.126
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full title	: Markham, Sir Clements Robert (1830-1916)
Date(s)	: 1845-1915
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 3 volumes and 1 file
Name of creator(s)	: Markham | Sir | Clements Robert | 1830-1916 | Knight | geographer

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Clements Markham was born in 1830. He served in the Royal Navy from 1844 to 1851, taking part in the search for Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). In 1853 he entered the civil service, being from 1867 to 1877 in charge of the geographical work of the India Office. During the latter years of the 19th century he lobbied for the resumption of Polar exploration by the United Kingdom, his pressure lying behind the 1875 Nares expedition to the Arctic. He was President of the Royal Geographical Society from 1893 to 1905 and became a Knight-Commander of the Bath in 1896. He died in 1916.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The collection comprises three bound volumes describing Markham's travels in South America in 1852-1853 (beginning his journey in Canada and ending it in Southampton), apparently prepared for publication in Markham's old age but not published in this form (the volumes include inserted material, some of it dating from before the journeys in question, and overall span the period 1845-1915); and a file of letters by Markham, spanning the period 1865-1913 (plus undated material).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

MS.7308 comprises letters by Markham, while WMS/Amer.126 is a set of three volumes concerned with his travels in South America.

Conditions governing access:

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Described in: S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973); Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983); and subsequent typescript supplementary finding aids by Richard Aspin, Christopher Hilton, Keith Moore and Richard Palmer.

Collection level description available on-line on the Wellcome Library website

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

WMS/Amer.126 purchased from T.A. Joyce, 1932 (accession number 65337). MS.7308 purchased from various sources, 1930-1932.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Markham described some of the journeys related in WMS/Amer.126 in his Cuzco, a journey to the ancient capital of Peru (London: Chapman & Hall, 1856) and Travels in Peru and India while supervising the collection of chinchona (London: J. Murray, 1862).

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
description compiled by Christopher Hilton based upon those in the Library's published finding aid by Robin Price and subsequent typescript supplementary finding aids by Richard Aspin, Christopher Hilton, Keith Moore and Richard Palmer. Biographical information from the Dictionary of National Biography.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
December 2000