Dates

• Existence: 3 October 1872 - 2 February 1959

Biography

Dr Violet Rosa Markham (1872-1959) was the the fifth of five children of Charles Markham (1823–1888), engineer and part owner of the family mine, Markham Main Colliery, and his wife, Rosa (c.1840–1912), daughter of Sir Joseph Paxton, designer of the 1851 Great Exhibition's Crystal Palace.

A bequest from a friend of her father in 1901 enabled Violet to be financially independent. She already had an active interest in charitable work as a young woman, visiting workhouses and having been elected to the Chesterfield school board in 1897, and the bequest allowed her to pursue this work further. She became increasingly involved in local and national government work and charitable organisations throughout her life over the following fifty years, including during both World Wars.

She held anti-suffragist views in the early 1900’s, reasoning that it was more valuable for women to contribute to society through supporting local government rather than voting. However, during the First World War her opposition to votes for women was moderated by a developing belief that the country could not be divided between the enfranchised and disenfranchised. In 1915 she married James Carruthers (1876-1936), a career army officer and racehorse owner, but kept her maiden name for public work. She was a lifelong liberal and stood as a Liberal candidate in the 1918 general election, although unsuccessfully. Almost a decade later, she was elected first female mayor of Chesterfield in 1927. She went on to receive a Sheffield University honorary LittD (1936), an Edinburgh LLD (1938), and the freedom of Chesterfield (1952).

Dr Violet Markham founded the Arthur Markham Memorial Fund in memory of her brother, Sir Arthur Markham, Bart. who died in 1916, and was administered by the University of Sheffield from 1927 until 1993. The University Calendar for 1946-7 described the Prize, which the Memorial Fund made possible, in the general list of prizes awarded in the University thus:

"Arthur Markham Memorial Prize of the value of £25, offered for the best essay on a prescribed subject. The competition is open to manual workers in or about a coal mine in England or Scotland or Wales, earning weekly or daily wages. There is no limit of age".

Both Markhams shared the belief that there was much untapped mental and creative ability among the mining communities of England, Scotland and Wales. The prize was designed to encourage literary expression amongst mineworkers, and was offered for the best literary composition, essay, poem, short story, opening chapter of a novel, or play. It was open to men or youths who, at the time of composition, were employed as manual workers in or about the coal mines of Great Britain and who earned a weekly or daily wage. Alternatively, men or youths who had been employed in this way but had been injured in their employment were also eligible to submit an entry. The prize was awarded by the Council of the University on the recommendation of the Examiners, being the Vice-Chancellor, the Professor of English Literature, and an external examiner.

Source: ODNB Entry for Violet Rosa Markham

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