More critical assessments of Markham's life and work were to follow. Hugh Robert Mill, Shackleton's first biographer and for many years the RGS librarian, referred to the dictatorial manner in which Markham had run the Society. In time, questions would be raised about the accuracy of some of his Hakluyt translations, and about the evidence of haste in the preparation of other publications. On a personal level he had made enemies as well as friends; Frank Debenham, the geologist who served with both Scott and Shackleton, called Markham "a dangerous old man", while William Speirs Bruce wrote of Markham's "malicious opposition to the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition".