Community work

Her first interest was education. Markham was a member of the Chesterfield Education Authority from 1899 to 1934, and in 1902 she was the founder President of the Chesterfield Settlement, an educational foundation for the local community which existed until 1958. While travelling to South Africa in the summer of 1899, Markham met Lady Edward Cecil. The two became good friends, and together created the Victoria League in 1901.

Later she became involved in public service in different sectors. At the outbreak of the First World War, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the National Relief Fund, established to alleviate distress caused by the war. The fund dispensed aid to service families and dependents, as well as civilians. The experience of this organisation left her with a lifelong interest in reducing the effects of poverty and unemployment, especially with regard to women. In 1914 she became a member and later chairman of the Central Committee of Women's Training and Employment, which in 25 years trained nearly 100,000 women, mainly for domestic service. In 1917 she was made deputy director of the women's section of the National Service League, and was one of the first recipients of the Order of the Companions of Honour. In 1920 she began a long period as a member of the Industrial Court, and became a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee for Women Justices.

In 1934, she became a member of the Unemployment Assistance Board, becoming Deputy chairman in 1937 – "probably the most important administrative post up to that time that had been held by a woman", according to her obituary in The Times.^[3] When the Second World War began, it was inevitable that her talents would be called on. She organised an all-night canteen for the poor of South London. She was on the appeal tribunal of the Defence of the Realm Regulations, and in 1942, she was asked to produce a report on allegations of immorality in the women's services. In 1945 she produced a report with Florence Hancock on the postwar organisation of domestic service.

Electoral politics

Markham was also active politically. In the 1918 General Election, she stood as the official Liberal candidate for the Mansfield Division of Nottinghamshire. (The Coalition Coupon went to Jarrett);

She was elected as a town councillor for Chesterfield in 1924, and served as the first female Mayor of Chesterfield in 1927. It would be 39 years before Chesterfield had another female Mayor.^[2]

Views

Despite being a social reformer, Violet Markham was strongly opposed to women being given the vote. She addressed an anti-suffrage meeting at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 February 1912^[5] (publicised in a letter to The Spectator published on 10 February 1912^[5]) which had been organised by the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage. Markham told the audience that the views of the women's suffrage movement "fly in the face of hard facts and natural law."^[6] She went on to say that, "We believe that men and women are different – not similar – beings, with talents that are complementary, not identical, and that they therefore ought to have different shares in the management of the State, that they severally compose. We do not depreciate by one jot or tittle women’s work and mission. We are concerned to find proper channels of expression for that work. We seek a fruitful diversity of political function, not a stultifying uniformity."^[6]

Although Markham opposed women's suffrage,^[6] Mary Stocks, herself a women's suffrage supporter, considered her to be "the best feminist I've ever known, a real feminist".^[7]

The idea that there should also be Girl Scouts, as counterpart to the new Boy Scout Movement, following their appearance at the 1909 Crystal Palace Rally, met with Markham's strong disapproval, as expressed in The Spectator.^[8][9]

May I draw your attention to an offshoot of this [Boy Scouts] movement which seems to me thoroughly mischievous,—namely, Girl Scouts ?...the mixed scouting described...not one word of defence is possible; but... I still urge the undesirability of any general development of this Girl Scouts scheme even on reorganised lines... Girls are not boys, and the training which develops manly qualities in the one may lead to the negation of womanliness in the other.

— Violet Markham, The Spectator (1909)