Frank Markham

Who was Frank Markham?

Sir Sydney Frank Markham was a British politician, who represented three parties in Parliament.

He was elected as a Labour MP at the 1929 general election as MP for Chatham, and defected with Ramsay MacDonald to become a National Labour MP just before standing down at the 1931 general election. It was under these colours that he was elected for Nottingham South in 1935.

At the 1950 general election, he stood as the Conservative candidate in the Buckingham constituency, but failed to unseat the sitting Labour Member of Parliament, Aidan Crawley. However, at the 1951 general election, he beat Crawley by a majority of only 54 votes. He held the seat with narrow majorities at the 1955 election and at the 1959 election and stood down before the 1964 general election.

In retirement, he is best noted for his A History of Milton Keynes and District ISBN 0-900804-29-7. A secondary school in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - now replaced - was named after him.