Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/178

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Markham
172
Markham

condition of the woollen clothing.’ St. Vincent thereon ordered, among other measures, the woollen clothes to be thrown overboard. Markham remonstrated, denying the truth of the allegation respecting the woollen clothing, and an angry correspondence followed. Having carried his point, St. Vincent bore Markham no grudge, and soothed his wounded feelings by sending him on detached service under Commodore Duckworth [q. v.] to capture Minorca.

Continuing one of the Mediterranean fleet, the Centaur took part in the vain chase of the French round the Mediterranean and back to Brest, in May-August 1799, but when Lord Keith returned to his station, the Centaur was left to join the Channel fleet, and to take part in the blockade of Brest at once, under the command of Lord Bridport, and the next year under the more stringent government of Lord St. Vincent. The two men had, however, learnt to understand each other; Markham cordially co-operated with St. Vincent; and when, in February 1801, St. Vincent was appointed first lord of the admiralty, he selected Markham as one of his colleagues at the board. For the next three years Markham's career was identified with St. Vincent's. In November, on the death of Lord Hugh Seymour, he was returned to parliament by Portsmouth, and thus became the representative of the admiralty in the House of Commons, although at the board junior to Sir Thomas Troubridge [q. v.], who was not in parliament. He retired from the admiralty with St. Vincent in May 1804, but returned to it in January 1806, as a colleague of Lord Howick [see Grey, Charles, second Earl Grey], and afterwards of Thomas Grenville [q. v.], till March 1807, when he practically retired from public life, though he continued to sit in parliament for Portsmouth till 1826, with one short break from 1818 to 1820. In 1826 his failing health compelled him to retire altogether. He was ordered to winter in a milder climate. He left England in September, and, travelling by easy stages, reached Naples in January 1827. He died there on 13 Feb., and was there buried.

According to Sir William Hotham [q. v.], there was an appearance of moroseness about Markham, despite his notable private virtues. ‘Though he had not many opportunities of distinguishing himself, [he was] a very zealous and attentive officer. His acquaintance with Lord Lansdowne brought him politically in connection with Lord St. Vincent, of whose admiralty board he was the efficient member. … He was very reserved and uncommunicative in everything connected with public news while in office, and my venerable friend, his father, used to say that he never got so little naval news from anybody as the lord of the admiralty. Though his countenance was more stern, and his figure in no way so good, he bore a strong resemblance to the archbishop.’ He married in 1796 Maria, daughter of George Rice and the Baroness Dynevor. She died in 1810, leaving issue three sons and a daughter. Their youngest son, Frederick, a distinguished Indian soldier and sportsman, is separately noticed.

Portraits of Markham by Lawrence and by Beechey, as well as miniatures copied from these, and a miniature of his wife by Mrs. Mee, are in the possession of the family. They have not been engraved.

[A Naval Career during the Old War, being a Narrative of the Life of Admiral John Markham, is published anonymously, but is understood to be by Clements R. Markham. esq.. C.B., F.R.S.]

J. K. L.

MARKHAM, PETER, M.D. (fl. 1758), writer on adulteration, exposed with some force the abuses in the manufacture of bread during the great scarcity of 1757. His writings did much to attract parliament to the subject suggestions were adopted due making of bread (31 Geo. II, c 29). He published: 1. 'Syhoroc, or Considerations on the Ten Ingredients used in the Adulteration of Bread Flour and Bread; to which is added a Plan of Redress,' &c., London, 1758, 8vo. Reprinted in the same year with the title, 'A Dissertation on Adulterated Bread,' &c. 2. 'A Final Warning to the Public to avoid the Detected Poison; being an Exposure . . . [of] an Infamous Pamphlet by Henry Jackson,' called "An Essay on Bread,"' &c.; 2nd edit. London, 1756, 8vo. Jackson's pamphlet had been written in reply to 'Poison Detected' and 'The Nature of Bread Honestly and Dishonestly Made,' published in the same year.

[Monthly Review, 1768. xviii. 493.]

W. A. S. H.

MARKHAM, WILLIAM (1719–1807), archbishop of York. eldest son of Major William Markham, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Markham of Worksop Lodge, Nottinghamshire, was baron Kinsale, in the county of Cork, where his father eked out his scanty half-pay by keeping a school. He was baptised on 9 April 1710, and on 21 June 1733 was admitted to Westminster School as a home boarder. In the following year he was elected head into college, and in 1738 obtained a studentship of Christ Church, Ox-