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| Albert Hastings Markham | |
|---|---|
| 11 November 1847 – 28 October 1918 (Aged 76) | |
 Albert Hastings Markham in 1876 |
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| Place of birth | Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France |
| Place of death | London, England |
| Allegiance |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1856 - 1906 |
| Rank | Lieutenant (1862) Commander (1872) Captain (1876) Rear Admiral (1891) Vice Admiral (1897) |
| Unit | |
| Commands held |
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| Awards | ADC KCB (1903)1 |
| Relations | Father: Captain John Markham Mother: Marianne Markham (née Wood)1 Wife: Theodora Markham (née Grevers) Cousin: Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS |
| Other work | Arctic Exploration Council of the Royal Geographical Society Author |
Sir Albert Hastings Markham, KCB (11 November 1841 - 28 October 1918) was a British explorer, author, and officer in the Royal Navy. He was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France to Captain John Markham RN. He married Theodora Grevers in 1894, with whom he had one daughter. In 1903 he was made Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath. He died in London, England at the age of 76.
Contents |
Military career
Markham joined the Royal Navy in 1856 at the age of 15 and spent the first eight years of his career on the China Station, serving in Camilla, Niger, Retribution, Imperieuse, Coromandel and Centaur.2 In 1862 he received a promotion to Lieutenant, and in 1864 he was appointed to the Victoria in the Mediterranean. He served as First Lieutenant of HMS Blanche on the Australia Station where he helped suppress illegal slave trading. In 1869 he submitted a design to George Bowen, the Governor of New Zealand for a national ensign for the fledgeling nation. His proposal, incorporating the Southern Cross, was approved and remains in use to this day.3
On 29 November 18724 he was promoted to Commander and spent the next six years engaged in Arctic Exploration. As a reward for his efforts in the British Arctic Expedition of 1876, he was promoted to Captain.5 From 1879 to 1882 he was the captain of HMS Triumph,2 the flagship of the Pacific Station. In 1883 he was appointed as captain of HMS Vernon, a naval torpedo school in Portsmouth. From 1886 to 1889 he acted as Commodore of the Training Squadron, and on 14 May 1888 he was poointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria.6 On 1 August 1891 he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral7 and on 20 March 1892 was made second-in-command of the Mediterranean squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.8
On 22 June 1893 his flagship, HMS Camperdown, collided with Tryon's flagship HMS Victoria during manoeuvres off the Syrian coast. The collision caused the death of 358 men including Vice-Admiral Tryon. At the subsequent Court-Martial Markham was exonerated,2 the blame being settled on Tryon alone. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral on 23 August 1897.9
On 1 November 1901 he was made Commander-in-Chief at the Nore, making him responsible for the defense of the port of London and of merchant ships along the East coast of Britain. He was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 21 January 1903.10 Having been made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 9 November 1903,11 he retired upon reaching the age limit on 11 November 1906.12 At the outbreak of the First World War he offered his services to the Admiralty, but his services were declined. Instead, he worked for the next four years as treasurer for the Mine Sweepers' Fund. He had just finished some fund work on 23 October 1918 when he fell ill, and died on 28 October.13
Exploration
In 1873 he shipped as the Second Mate1 in the whaler Arctic through Davis Straits and Buffin Bay. While performing his share of whaling duties, which he would later write about, he also kept detailed notes on the ice conditions and wrote a report suggesting the route for use with steam vessels.
For the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 he was appointed second-in-command of HMS Alert under Captain Nares. Despite suffering from scurvy and being poorly clothed, he led a sledge-party to reach the highest latitude ever attained at the time (83°20′26″ N), a record that stood for 20 years.2 They did, however, fail to realize their ultimate goal of reaching the North Pole.
In 1879 he accompanied Sir H. Gore Booth aboard the Isbjörn to Novaya Zemlya, a remote island in northern Russia. In 1886 he went alone to report on the ice conditions of Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, a report which garnered thanks from both Houses of the Canadian Parliament. The ship which took him to Hudson Bay was his old ship Alert from the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76, by then on loan to the Canadian Marine Service of the Department of Marine and Fisheries.
He served for many years on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society along with his cousin Sir Clements Markham, whose biography he would later write. He remained an avid supporter of both Arctic and Antarctic exploration and delighted in the successes of young explorers.
He retired from both exploration and the Royal Navy in 1906 in order to devote himself to his writings.
Writings
He wrote numerous books and articles about his exploration as well as two biographies. While stationed in the Pacific from 1879 to 1882 he compiled a list of Pacific Gulls which was published in 1882 by the ornithologist Howard Saunders and republished in 1883 by Osbert Salvin. Salvin named a bird, Markham's Storm-Petrel, after him in honor of his contributions to science.
- The New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Groups, South-West Pacific (1871)
- The New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Groups (1872)
- The Cruise of the 'Rosario' Amongst the New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Islands (1873)
- A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of Boothia (1874)
- On Sledge Travelling (1876)
- Our Life in the Arctic Regions (1877)
- Northward Ho! (1879)
- The Arctic Campaign of 1879 in the Barents Sea (1880)
- A Visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1880 (1880)
- The Great Frozen Sea (1880)
- A Polar Reconnaissance: Being the Voyage of the 'Isbjörn' to Novaya Zemlya in 1879 (1881)
- Hudson's Bay and Hudson's Strait as a Navigable Channel (1888)
- Life of Sir John Franklin and the North-west Passage (1891)
- The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S (1917)
Birds discovered by Markham
Posthumous homage
Location of geographical features named after Sir Albert Hastings Markham:
- Markgama Island (Russian: Остров Маркгама)
- Cape Alberta Markgama (Russian: Мыс Маркгама), the Northwestern cape of Hooker Island
- Markham Channel
- Markham Ice Shelf
- Mount Albert Markham in Antarctica
See also
- List of polar explorers
- List of explorers
- Polar exploration
- Archival material relating to Albert Hastings Markham listed at the UK National Register of Archives
Notes
- ^ a b c Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Markham, Sir Albert Hastings (1841–1918), naval officer and Arctic explorer), by R N Rudmose Brown, revised by Roger T Stearn
- ^ a b c d "Biography of Albert Markham at the National Maritime Museum". Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Rear-Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham, Norfolk Museums and Archeology Service". Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 23924, p. 36, 29 November 1872.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 24379, p. 1, 7 November 1876.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 25820, p. 8, 25 May 1888.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 26190, p. 14, 7 August 1891.
- ^ Catalogue details for ADM 196/37, The National Archives, these records include Markham's service record (fee required to view pdf of original record). Retrieved 2008-12-22
- ^ London Gazette: no. 26885, p. 2, 24 August 1897.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 27518, p. 2, 23 January 1903.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 27613, p. 1, 6 November 1903.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 27967, p. 1, 13 November 1906.
- ^ Markham. Life of Sir Albert Hastings Markham. p. 252.
- ^ a b Markham. Life of Sir Albert Hastings Markham. p. 254.
References
- The Geographical Journal, Vol. 52, No. 6. (Dec., 1918). Royal Geographical Society. 1918.
- L. B. (1919). The Geographical Journal, Vol. 53, No. 1. (Jan., 1919). Royal Geographical Society.
- Markham, F. E.,; Markham, M. A. (1927). The Life of Sir Albert Hastings Markham. Cambridge University Press.
- "Sir Albert Hastings Markham". Retrieved on 25 February 2008.
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