Here's a workshop from well over 100 years ago, where a teacher demonstrates the modelling of physical landforms using plasticine. Well done Mr. Welsh. Also, I wonder whether Mr. T. W. F Parkinson is any relation, as my surname is from the NW.
Sunday, 30 June 2019
Plus ca change #1
While researching this blog, I often came across snippets in old copies of Geographical journals which related to the work of teachers then, which could equally be talked about now. A reminder that nothing really changes, we just go round and round again...
Here's a workshop from well over 100 years ago, where a teacher demonstrates the modelling of physical landforms using plasticine. Well done Mr. Welsh. Also, I wonder whether Mr. T. W. F Parkinson is any relation, as my surname is from the NW.
Here's a workshop from well over 100 years ago, where a teacher demonstrates the modelling of physical landforms using plasticine. Well done Mr. Welsh. Also, I wonder whether Mr. T. W. F Parkinson is any relation, as my surname is from the NW.
Saturday, 29 June 2019
Cartographic Predictions #1
Another in a whole range of 'occasional themes' for blogposts which will no doubt emerge over the next few years.
You will, I hope, be familiar with Worldmapper: the cartograms of Ben Hennig connected with the insight of Danny Dorling, Anna Barford and others.
In Halford Mackinder's Presidential Address of January 1916, he was referring to the creation of maps when he said this....
"I have no doubt that...sooner or later [someone] will take the step which will lead to our having maps showing where the musical ear is most prevalent in the world, where the artistic eye is most prevalent, where the fighting man is most cruel, and so forth; an endless series of cartographical answers to all the questions in regard to humanity that you might suggest..."
Or perhaps he was referring to maps like these: 'the world according to...' of which there are many.
Source: http://www.alphadesigner.com/
Buy the book with over 100 of these maps here: The Atlas of Prejudice
And in case you were wondering, the Worldmapper map shown at the top of the post is of global tea production.
Worldmapper maps are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For any commercial use (including in publishing) a map use license needs to be obtained.
You will, I hope, be familiar with Worldmapper: the cartograms of Ben Hennig connected with the insight of Danny Dorling, Anna Barford and others.
In Halford Mackinder's Presidential Address of January 1916, he was referring to the creation of maps when he said this....
"I have no doubt that...sooner or later [someone] will take the step which will lead to our having maps showing where the musical ear is most prevalent in the world, where the artistic eye is most prevalent, where the fighting man is most cruel, and so forth; an endless series of cartographical answers to all the questions in regard to humanity that you might suggest..."
Or perhaps he was referring to maps like these: 'the world according to...' of which there are many.
Source: http://www.alphadesigner.com/
Buy the book with over 100 of these maps here: The Atlas of Prejudice
And in case you were wondering, the Worldmapper map shown at the top of the post is of global tea production.
Worldmapper maps are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For any commercial use (including in publishing) a map use license needs to be obtained.
Quote of the Day
Geography is "the school subject most in touch with modern life, the one which a boy in particular feels to be real, comprehensible and valuable. If it is made dull, it is not the fault of the subject."
A. J. Herbertson
Quoted in J. W. Adamson "The Principle of Instruction' (1907)
Thursday, 27 June 2019
Quote of the Day
"From about twelve onwards, pupils should learn that text-books are little more than convenient summaries, and that they contain by no-means everything that a boy or girl of that age wants to know."
A. J. Herbertson
A. J. Herbertson
Quoted in J. W. Adamson "The Principle of Instruction' (1907)
Ordnance Survey and the GA
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a map is worth a million.
The GA and the OS have a long association going back over a century.
At the 1903 AGM, there was a presentation of OS mapping and efforts were made to secure discounts for teachers on map sheets.
Many articles in 'The Geographical Teacher' at the time were on the use of mapping, and books and information on using them in the classroom were best sellers.
Reading through the various AGMs and other presentations at gatherings of the Association, one sees regular articles referring to the use of OS maps, and the need for teachers to have access to them, at a time when perhaps they were less commonly used than now.
Download a history of the OS here. (PDF)
In Fleure's retrospective of 60 years of the GA, there is a section on the relationship with the OS, which he describes as:
"a most valuable coadjutor of the teachers and the Association. From the early years of the century it has devised schemes for supplying quantities of ordnance maps of a school district to a public authority school in the area at a cheap rate. This virtual alliance between the OS and the Association was to develop later on to the great gain of geographical education and of the Association."
In 1927, the President was Colonel Sir Charles Close, who also served as Director General of the Ordnance Survey from 1911, through the First World War.
I'm currently working as an Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champion, and have previously worked to produce resources for Digimap for Schools, Digimap for Colleges, and the OS Mapstream service.
Plenty more on the OS to come as we move through the 20th Century. See below for updates.
References
Fleure, H.J. (1953) "Sixty years of geography and education", Geography, vol.38, pp.231-264
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/docs/ebooks/map-makers-to-britain-since-1791.pdf (PDF download)
Balchin's Centenary book provided further updates.
Updates
In the early 1930s the GA came to an agreement with the OS that exmaination maps would be provided to schools once the examination results had been published, These were to prove very helpful and also provided relatively cheaply.
1920: Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas KCMG, KCB
Updated August 2023
Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas was announced as the new President of the Association in a piece published in 'The Geographical Teacher' in 1919.
"We have pleasure in announcing that Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., has accepted the Presidency of the Association for 1920, and will deliver his Presidentiaî Address on " Islands, Peninsulas and Empires " on Friday evening, January 9th, at the Day Training College, Southampton Row, London, W.C.1.
Details will be announced shortly, and the meetings will be spread over January 9 and 10. Sir Charles Lucas is well known, both as a Colonial Administrator and as a student of Historical Geography.
He presided over the Geographical Section of the British Association at Adelaide in 1914, and his work for the Royal Colonial Institute during the War has strengthened that valuable organisation in many ways. His chief writings are the History of Canada."
Lucas was born in Brecon, Wales. He was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford.
Lucas was called to the bar, in Lincoln's Inn, on 30 April 1885. He became a civil servant in the Colonial Office which led to his becoming head of the Dominion Department and, in 1907, to his knighthood.
He is one of a number of GA Presidents who came to the role following a distinguished career in Law or the Civil Service, or a Colonial administrator. Those years are perhaps gone now, and the 21st Century has moved more towards those with a closer connection to teacher education or academic geography.
His Presidential Address was on the theme of 'Islands, Peninsulas and Empires', and he also published other articles on the parts of the world which he knew the best. This was also a time when Presidential addresses sometimes focussed on particular parts of the world in detail - the era of the "expert" - Michael Gove would have hated it.
In his address, he discussed the significance of islands and peninsulas in geopolitics. He ended by saying "Perhaps air power may supersede both land and sea power."
In the same year, he produced a piece on 'The Place Names of Empire', which had been read at the Colonial Institute in April 1917.
He was thanked for his work in an issue of 'The Geographical Teacher', which he helped to produce.
His Obituary was published in the Times in 1931, outlining his work in a number of locations around the world, but not saying much about his time as President.
Sir Charles P. Lucas K.C.B. K.C.M.G. (1914) Man as a geographical agency, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 30:9, 449-467, DOI: 10.1080/14702541408541564
"We have pleasure in announcing that Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., has accepted the Presidency of the Association for 1920, and will deliver his Presidentiaî Address on " Islands, Peninsulas and Empires " on Friday evening, January 9th, at the Day Training College, Southampton Row, London, W.C.1.
Details will be announced shortly, and the meetings will be spread over January 9 and 10. Sir Charles Lucas is well known, both as a Colonial Administrator and as a student of Historical Geography.
He presided over the Geographical Section of the British Association at Adelaide in 1914, and his work for the Royal Colonial Institute during the War has strengthened that valuable organisation in many ways. His chief writings are the History of Canada."
Lucas was born in Brecon, Wales. He was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford.
Lucas was called to the bar, in Lincoln's Inn, on 30 April 1885. He became a civil servant in the Colonial Office which led to his becoming head of the Dominion Department and, in 1907, to his knighthood.
He is one of a number of GA Presidents who came to the role following a distinguished career in Law or the Civil Service, or a Colonial administrator. Those years are perhaps gone now, and the 21st Century has moved more towards those with a closer connection to teacher education or academic geography.
His Presidential Address was on the theme of 'Islands, Peninsulas and Empires', and he also published other articles on the parts of the world which he knew the best. This was also a time when Presidential addresses sometimes focussed on particular parts of the world in detail - the era of the "expert" - Michael Gove would have hated it.
In his address, he discussed the significance of islands and peninsulas in geopolitics. He ended by saying "Perhaps air power may supersede both land and sea power."
In the same year, he produced a piece on 'The Place Names of Empire', which had been read at the Colonial Institute in April 1917.
He was thanked for his work in an issue of 'The Geographical Teacher', which he helped to produce.
His Obituary was published in the Times in 1931, outlining his work in a number of locations around the world, but not saying much about his time as President.
He was serving on the GA's Council until his death, so remained actively involved with the GA.
He is described as a Civil Servant and Historian.
He wrote about the Colonies.
References
Announcement in 'The Geographical Teacher': H.J.F. “[Editorial].” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 3, 1919, pp. 77–79. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555739.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Prestwood_Lucas
I have amended the entry to add his GA Presidential role, as I have with all the Presidents who have Wikipedia pages.
Presidential Address: Lucas, Charles P. “Islands, Peninsulas and Empires.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 4, 1920, pp. 126–130. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555032.
“SIR CHARLES PRESTWOOD LUCAS, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.” Geography, vol. 16, no. 2, 1931, pp. 153–153. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557915.
Obituary in the Times:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Times/1931/Obituary/Charles_Prestwood_Lucas
Image credit: National Portrait Gallery
CC Attribution:
Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 11 August 1920
NPG x75124© National Portrait Gallery, London
References
Announcement in 'The Geographical Teacher': H.J.F. “[Editorial].” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 3, 1919, pp. 77–79. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555739.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Prestwood_Lucas
I have amended the entry to add his GA Presidential role, as I have with all the Presidents who have Wikipedia pages.
Presidential Address: Lucas, Charles P. “Islands, Peninsulas and Empires.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 4, 1920, pp. 126–130. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555032.
“SIR CHARLES PRESTWOOD LUCAS, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.” Geography, vol. 16, no. 2, 1931, pp. 153–153. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557915.
Obituary in the Times:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Times/1931/Obituary/Charles_Prestwood_Lucas
Image credit: National Portrait Gallery
CC Attribution:
Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 11 August 1920
NPG x75124© National Portrait Gallery, London
He wrote a History of Canada.
If anyone knows any further information about Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas please get in touch to help expand this entry as it is rather brief and I couldn't find much about what he did while President.New #ebook @gutenberg_org: A history of Canada 1763-1812 by Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas https://t.co/7ta4g56Y5I
— Project Gutenberg (@gutenberg_new) June 17, 2022
Update March 2023
Updated August 2023
He lived from 1853-1931.
Given the importance of decolonising the curriculum currently, it's also interesting that Prestwood Lucas wrote about the history of Jamaica as a colony, including this section on the Maroons.
Article in Scottish Geographical Magazine
Sir Charles P. Lucas K.C.B. K.C.M.G. (1914) Man as a geographical agency, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 30:9, 449-467, DOI: 10.1080/14702541408541564
Saturday, 22 June 2019
Another Parkinson of note...
Manchester GA Branch
1917 Branch meeting notes from 'The Geographical Teacher' features a Mr. T. W. F Parkinson, who was a Principal Geography Master at the Central High School in Manchester.
He was involved in the Manchester GA Branch for many years it seems, and his name recurs in several places.
Not sure if he's any relation, but good to see some other Parkinsons making a contribution across the years...
1917 Branch meeting notes from 'The Geographical Teacher' features a Mr. T. W. F Parkinson, who was a Principal Geography Master at the Central High School in Manchester.
He was involved in the Manchester GA Branch for many years it seems, and his name recurs in several places.
Not sure if he's any relation, but good to see some other Parkinsons making a contribution across the years...
Friday, 21 June 2019
1920: Some thoughts on fieldwork...
Davis, H. Valentine. “Back to Earth: Field Work as an Essential in the Teaching of Geography.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 5, 1920, pp. 233–235. JSTOR,www.jstor.org/stable/40555130.
Used this quote this week to stress the importance of learning beyond the classroom walls, and the need to #GetOutside wherever possible.
Wednesday, 19 June 2019
1919: Professor Grenville A J Cole, FSA
Updated September 2023
The president 101 years ago this year was a geologist, and a cyclist.
Grenville Arthur James Cole took over the Presidency of the Association just after the end of the First World War. He had been involved with the Association for some time, and there are several articles of his in the GA journal JSTOR archives.
This must have been a time of turmoil and change as soldiers returned to their previous life as teachers, and families were reunited, and the GA moved back into peace time. However, it was also a time of great growth in terms of numbers of new members and activity following years of semi-dormancy, and a desire to be creative and 'keep busy'.
Grenville Cole was a geologist by background and was apparently known as the "cycling geologist". You can perhaps guess why.
He undertook many cycling tours around continental Europe and Ireland. These trips were recounted in two early travel books. The Gypsy Road: a Journey from Krakow to Coblentz, published in 1894, which apparently provides a delightful account of a tour undertaken by him on a tricycle and his companion on a penny farthing, across what is now Poland, the Czech Republic, and eastern Germany.
Details here: https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/287/1/135
In a later slim volume entitled 'As We Ride', co-authored with his wife, a number of expeditions to France and the Balkans are eloquently described. I am going to endeavour to get some copies of those books, certainly the first one at least.
Cole also campaigned for the inclusion of geography in the curriculum of the Universities. He realized that no improvements could come about in the schools unless teachers were properly trained in the new methods. He proposed a motion to that effect in 1923, at a meeting of the Irish Geographical Association, stating that "this meeting instructs the committee of the IGA to take steps to bring the need for higher geographical teaching in Ireland before the authorities responsible for the curriculum of courses for degrees in the several Irish Universities, and to urge the inclusion of Geography among the subjects that may be selected by undergraduates as the principal study of their fmal years for degrees both in science and the arts."
His work had only really begun, when he sadly died in 1924.
Source, where you can read the whole book:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED331742.pdf
A piece in the Irish Naturalist journal discovered by another sweep of JSTOR.
The president 101 years ago this year was a geologist, and a cyclist.
This must have been a time of turmoil and change as soldiers returned to their previous life as teachers, and families were reunited, and the GA moved back into peace time. However, it was also a time of great growth in terms of numbers of new members and activity following years of semi-dormancy, and a desire to be creative and 'keep busy'.
Grenville Cole was a geologist by background and was apparently known as the "cycling geologist". You can perhaps guess why.
He undertook many cycling tours around continental Europe and Ireland. These trips were recounted in two early travel books. The Gypsy Road: a Journey from Krakow to Coblentz, published in 1894, which apparently provides a delightful account of a tour undertaken by him on a tricycle and his companion on a penny farthing, across what is now Poland, the Czech Republic, and eastern Germany.
Details here: https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/287/1/135
In a later slim volume entitled 'As We Ride', co-authored with his wife, a number of expeditions to France and the Balkans are eloquently described. I am going to endeavour to get some copies of those books, certainly the first one at least.
Between 1902 and 1908, Cole organised a week-long geological excursion to various parts of Ireland for his students, and transport was by train and bicycle.
His links to the Geographical Association started at this time, and he became involved with their work in many ways, particularly in the area of Geology. He wrote a good many books on geology, as well as a rare guide to Dublin, which is going for £300 on eBay.
In 1919, his Presidential Address was called “The Narrow Seas and the Arctic Route to Muscovy.” As is customary at the time (before the Bank Holiday arrived and the conference moved to Spring) it was held in the first week of the year.
Not surprisingly he started by talking about the geology of the seas around the country, and the role that they had played in shaping the country's history and destiny.
He also talked about the little-known expedition in the 1550s by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, where they headed North into Muscovia, to try to find a great circle route over the Pole to Cathay, and "secure that route for the English."
It didn't end well for Willoughby, with his fate being told in his journals. They were found on the ship in 1554 after he and the crews of the Bona Esperanta and the Bona Confidentia had perished, ice bound in the Varzina River during the winter. Chancellor was separated in a storm off the Lofoten Islands and found safety in Norway. The adventures of Chancellor were recounted in the address, along with 'what happened next'. There were echoes in Willoughby's Arctic disappearance of the tale of 'Erebus' told so well most recently by Sir Michael Palin.
His links to the Geographical Association started at this time, and he became involved with their work in many ways, particularly in the area of Geology. He wrote a good many books on geology, as well as a rare guide to Dublin, which is going for £300 on eBay.
In 1919, his Presidential Address was called “The Narrow Seas and the Arctic Route to Muscovy.” As is customary at the time (before the Bank Holiday arrived and the conference moved to Spring) it was held in the first week of the year.
Not surprisingly he started by talking about the geology of the seas around the country, and the role that they had played in shaping the country's history and destiny.
He also talked about the little-known expedition in the 1550s by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, where they headed North into Muscovia, to try to find a great circle route over the Pole to Cathay, and "secure that route for the English."
It didn't end well for Willoughby, with his fate being told in his journals. They were found on the ship in 1554 after he and the crews of the Bona Esperanta and the Bona Confidentia had perished, ice bound in the Varzina River during the winter. Chancellor was separated in a storm off the Lofoten Islands and found safety in Norway. The adventures of Chancellor were recounted in the address, along with 'what happened next'. There were echoes in Willoughby's Arctic disappearance of the tale of 'Erebus' told so well most recently by Sir Michael Palin.
Cole was unwell in 1920 after his Presidency ended, but took up the post of President of the Irish Geographical Association
He delivered a series of Summer lectures entitled "Ireland the Outpost" and these were later turned into a book.
His Presidential Address to the Irish Association was published in 'The Geographical Teacher' in 1920. In this one, he suggested that every geography teacher should "receive a grant for travel... as the world at large is our laboratory"
This is a reminder that there are many national Geographical Associations, and I hope during my Presidency to connect with as many of these as possible.
Grenville Cole sadly died in 1924, relatively young compared to many of the Presidents.
References
http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/287/1/135 - detail on Cole's career as the cycling geologist
Image copyright: Geological Society of London
Citation:
Grenville Arthur James Cole (1859–1924): the cycling geologist
P. N. Wyse Jackson
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 287, 135-147, 1 January 2007,https://doi.org/10.1144/SP287.11
Wyse Jackson, P.N. ‘Grenville Cole (1859 – 1924): cycling geologist’ Four centuries of geological travel: the search for knowledge on foot, bicycle, sledge and camel Wyse Jacskson, P.N., ed. London: The Geological Society, 2007: p143
Other images can be seen from this source, including some of the routes that Cole cycled
Presidential Address
Cole, Grenville A. J. “The Narrow Seas and the Arctic Route to Muscovy.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 1, 1919, pp. 4–8. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555794.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40555643?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents - Irish connections outlined
Cole, G. A. J. “Presidential Address to the Irish Geographical Association.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 6, 1920, pp. 276–279. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555713.
Books for sale on ABE Books: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&an=Grenville+Cole&tn=&kn=&isbn=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenville_Cole - Wikipedia entry
I edited the Wikipedia entry to add the fact that he was the President of the Geographical Association. I shall do that for each President, as hardly any of their entries mentioned that before I started the blog.
Poetry about Cole by Michael McKimm: https://writtenintherocks.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/the-cycling-geologist/
As always, if anyone know any more information about Grenville Cole, please get in touch.
POSTSCRIPT
1919 was also the year that the GA looked to organise a memorial to Professor Herbertson, who was the subject of a previous post.
This was the Herbertson Memorial Lecture, and an endowment meeting the expenses of a lecture and printing.
Update - June 2019
An appreciation, published in 1924 in 'The Geographical Teacher'
“EDITORIAL.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 12, no. 5, 1924, pp. 329–332. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40556361.
Updated August 2020
While looking for something else, I came across a book called 'Geography and Education' exploring the development of fieldwork education.
It describes Grenville's attempts to bring the same sort of opportunities for fieldwork to Ireland that were being developed in the UK by the GA and other organisations.
Grenville gets a chapter almost to himself, alongside the efforts of John Scott Keltie.
It pulls in mentions for many other former GA Presidents along the way:
Born in London and with a solid background in geology he visited Ireland for the first time in 1884, the year Keltie undertook his eclectic survey on the state of geography education in England and Wales.
In 1890, Cole took a position in the Royal College of Science in Dublin. As a geologist he was a practical field worker, and he conducted many practical geological surveys in Ireland. In 1911, accompanied by Davis the celebrated American Geomorphologist, he undertook an expedition incorporating the Munster Blackwater River Valley. Davies, lecturer in Geography at Trinity College Dublin, said "They went there to see the sininge bend in the Blackwater described by Jukes in l862." Though working and residing in Dublin, Cole maintained a close contact with the Geographical Association in Britain.
His contribution to that organisation culminated in his election as its president in 1919. He worked in close harmony with the guiding intellectuals of the Association in England: Mackinder, Fleure, Roxby, Freshfield and Geddes.
Cole consequently spearheaded a movement to set up and establish an Irish version of the Geographical Association.
The I.G.A. was affiliated with its British counterpart and many ideas and methods which had originated in England were introduced in Dublin by Cole. In 1921, he utilized the Mackinder and Herbertson Summer School idea to promote in-service courses for teachers.
Davies recorded the eleven-day summer school organised by the Irish Geographical Association in that year for geography teachers.
"The programme for that school looks surprisingly modern. There were lectures on landforms and scenery, maps and map reading, field work in biogeography, historical cartography, Ii Industry and power resources, and geographical modelling together with field-excursions to Howth, Dunsink Observatory, the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, Killiney and the Dublin Docks." Indeed the program looked surprisingly modern in the Irish context, yet, on a comparative note, those methods and activities had been integral parts of geography education at third level institutions in Britain for a decade or more.
He delivered a series of Summer lectures entitled "Ireland the Outpost" and these were later turned into a book.
His Presidential Address to the Irish Association was published in 'The Geographical Teacher' in 1920. In this one, he suggested that every geography teacher should "receive a grant for travel... as the world at large is our laboratory"
This is a reminder that there are many national Geographical Associations, and I hope during my Presidency to connect with as many of these as possible.
Grenville Cole sadly died in 1924, relatively young compared to many of the Presidents.
References
http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/287/1/135 - detail on Cole's career as the cycling geologist
Image copyright: Geological Society of London
Citation:
Grenville Arthur James Cole (1859–1924): the cycling geologist
P. N. Wyse Jackson
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 287, 135-147, 1 January 2007,https://doi.org/10.1144/SP287.11
Wyse Jackson, P.N. ‘Grenville Cole (1859 – 1924): cycling geologist’ Four centuries of geological travel: the search for knowledge on foot, bicycle, sledge and camel Wyse Jacskson, P.N., ed. London: The Geological Society, 2007: p143
Other images can be seen from this source, including some of the routes that Cole cycled
Presidential Address
Cole, Grenville A. J. “The Narrow Seas and the Arctic Route to Muscovy.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 1, 1919, pp. 4–8. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555794.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40555643?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents - Irish connections outlined
Cole, G. A. J. “Presidential Address to the Irish Geographical Association.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 6, 1920, pp. 276–279. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555713.
Books for sale on ABE Books: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&an=Grenville+Cole&tn=&kn=&isbn=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenville_Cole - Wikipedia entry
I edited the Wikipedia entry to add the fact that he was the President of the Geographical Association. I shall do that for each President, as hardly any of their entries mentioned that before I started the blog.
Poetry about Cole by Michael McKimm: https://writtenintherocks.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/the-cycling-geologist/
As always, if anyone know any more information about Grenville Cole, please get in touch.
POSTSCRIPT
1919 was also the year that the GA looked to organise a memorial to Professor Herbertson, who was the subject of a previous post.
This was the Herbertson Memorial Lecture, and an endowment meeting the expenses of a lecture and printing.
Update - June 2019
An appreciation, published in 1924 in 'The Geographical Teacher'
“EDITORIAL.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 12, no. 5, 1924, pp. 329–332. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40556361.
Updated August 2020
While looking for something else, I came across a book called 'Geography and Education' exploring the development of fieldwork education.
It describes Grenville's attempts to bring the same sort of opportunities for fieldwork to Ireland that were being developed in the UK by the GA and other organisations.
Grenville gets a chapter almost to himself, alongside the efforts of John Scott Keltie.
It pulls in mentions for many other former GA Presidents along the way:
Born in London and with a solid background in geology he visited Ireland for the first time in 1884, the year Keltie undertook his eclectic survey on the state of geography education in England and Wales.
In 1890, Cole took a position in the Royal College of Science in Dublin. As a geologist he was a practical field worker, and he conducted many practical geological surveys in Ireland. In 1911, accompanied by Davis the celebrated American Geomorphologist, he undertook an expedition incorporating the Munster Blackwater River Valley. Davies, lecturer in Geography at Trinity College Dublin, said "They went there to see the sininge bend in the Blackwater described by Jukes in l862." Though working and residing in Dublin, Cole maintained a close contact with the Geographical Association in Britain.
His contribution to that organisation culminated in his election as its president in 1919. He worked in close harmony with the guiding intellectuals of the Association in England: Mackinder, Fleure, Roxby, Freshfield and Geddes.
Cole consequently spearheaded a movement to set up and establish an Irish version of the Geographical Association.
The I.G.A. was affiliated with its British counterpart and many ideas and methods which had originated in England were introduced in Dublin by Cole. In 1921, he utilized the Mackinder and Herbertson Summer School idea to promote in-service courses for teachers.
Davies recorded the eleven-day summer school organised by the Irish Geographical Association in that year for geography teachers.
"The programme for that school looks surprisingly modern. There were lectures on landforms and scenery, maps and map reading, field work in biogeography, historical cartography, Ii Industry and power resources, and geographical modelling together with field-excursions to Howth, Dunsink Observatory, the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, Killiney and the Dublin Docks." Indeed the program looked surprisingly modern in the Irish context, yet, on a comparative note, those methods and activities had been integral parts of geography education at third level institutions in Britain for a decade or more.
Cole
simply transferred the techniques and experience to the
Dublin Summer School.
Cole also campaigned for the inclusion of geography in the curriculum of the Universities. He realized that no improvements could come about in the schools unless teachers were properly trained in the new methods. He proposed a motion to that effect in 1923, at a meeting of the Irish Geographical Association, stating that "this meeting instructs the committee of the IGA to take steps to bring the need for higher geographical teaching in Ireland before the authorities responsible for the curriculum of courses for degrees in the several Irish Universities, and to urge the inclusion of Geography among the subjects that may be selected by undergraduates as the principal study of their fmal years for degrees both in science and the arts."
His work had only really begun, when he sadly died in 1924.
Source, where you can read the whole book:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED331742.pdf
References
https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/SP287.11 - Lyell Collection
Updated August 2023
Many illustrations from this book have been shared on Flickr. They can be downloaded.
Updated September 2023
From 1924 - a new image of Cole.
Wright, W. B., and M. C. Wright. “Grenville Arthur James Cole, F.R.S.” The Irish Naturalist, vol. 33, no. 6, 1924, pp. 57–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25525353. Accessed 16 Sept. 2023.
And some more description of his work.
It describes his travels and wider involvement, including with the British Association.
What's unusual in a piece like this is that the GA is mentioned as part of his work... he "took a keen interest" in the development of geography.
He also wrote poetry it seems, as did a few other Presidents.
Monday, 17 June 2019
Quote of the Day
"As far as possible, men are to be taught to become wise not by books, but by the Heavens, the Earth, oaks and beeches; that is, they must learn to know and examine the things themselves, and not the observations and testimony of others about the things"
Comenius (Born 1592)
Quoted in Howes (1921) - 'The Geographical Teacher'
Friday, 14 June 2019
Quote of the Day
"There are subjects like....geography, whose aim is to obtain knowledge, but knowledge expressed not so much in definite facts as in perspective valuations..."
Sir Halford Mackinder, Presidential Address, 1916
Thursday, 13 June 2019
1918: Sir William Mitchell Ramsay
Updated August 2021As the First World War came towards an end, the archaeologist Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was the person in the post of GA President.
Again, he was not a geographer at heart, but had travelled widely, and was well known within his sphere of interest. He studied at St. John 's College, Oxford (another Oxford connection being shown).
He was another part of the drive to bring in distinguished outsiders with geographic interests to strengthen the standing of the Association. He didn't have many geographical connections before or after his time as President, unlike some others who were appointed during this period.
His Presidential Address began with this paragraph
"The study and the proper teaching of Geography should combine two characteristics. True Geography is a science of the most practical character, with firm hold on the facts of the world around us, yet at the same time the study should be ideal in the highest degree and inspired by a strong emotional quality. These characteristics may seem inconsistent with one another, yet in Geography they are not merely consistent, they are necessary each for the other.
Geography cannot be practical unless it is ideal and emotional, and it is ideal because it is practical."
Later on in the address is this quote:
Towards the end of his tenure, in November 1918, the First World War came to an end.
His academic career included time at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, and he had a long and varied career which also included the University of Aberdeen. He published many journal articles.
He was one of the original members of the British Academy, was awarded the Gold Medal of Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1906.
His death was announced in 1939 in 'Geography'
References
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mitchell_Ramsay
Image: Public domain
I have edited this page to add reference to the Geographical Association, as I will do with each Past President who has a Wikipedia page.
RAMSAY, W. M. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 4, 1918, pp. 175–181. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554566.
Gifford Lectures: https://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/william-mitchell-ramsay
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ramsay/ramsay_gasque.pdf (PDF download)
Again, he was not a geographer at heart, but had travelled widely, and was well known within his sphere of interest. He studied at St. John 's College, Oxford (another Oxford connection being shown).
He was another part of the drive to bring in distinguished outsiders with geographic interests to strengthen the standing of the Association. He didn't have many geographical connections before or after his time as President, unlike some others who were appointed during this period.
Ramsay was an archaeologist by trade, and a New Testament Scholar. He travelled widely in the area known then as Asia Minor (and referred to these travels extensively in his Presidential Address). He wrote a large number of books on the theme of Biblical studies as well. His address touched on his travels and biblical scholarship.
His Presidential Address began with this paragraph
"The study and the proper teaching of Geography should combine two characteristics. True Geography is a science of the most practical character, with firm hold on the facts of the world around us, yet at the same time the study should be ideal in the highest degree and inspired by a strong emotional quality. These characteristics may seem inconsistent with one another, yet in Geography they are not merely consistent, they are necessary each for the other.
Geography cannot be practical unless it is ideal and emotional, and it is ideal because it is practical."
Later on in the address is this quote:
"...the true geographer is the lover of the earth. He should feel to the earth something of that exquisite and strong feeling which the son begins to feel towards his mother as he grows up and passes out of the age of careless, unintelligent, even though strong, emotion towards her, into the stage of intelligent and sympathetic comprehension of all that he has owed her from the beginning of his life to the present moment. The emotion is even stronger than before, but it is now guided by knowledge."
Towards the end of his tenure, in November 1918, the First World War came to an end.
His academic career included time at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, and he had a long and varied career which also included the University of Aberdeen. He published many journal articles.
He was one of the original members of the British Academy, was awarded the Gold Medal of Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1906.
His death was announced in 1939 in 'Geography'
References
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mitchell_Ramsay
Image: Public domain
I have edited this page to add reference to the Geographical Association, as I will do with each Past President who has a Wikipedia page.
RAMSAY, W. M. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 4, 1918, pp. 175–181. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554566.
Gifford Lectures: https://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/william-mitchell-ramsay
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ramsay/ramsay_gasque.pdf (PDF download)
If anyone knows of other geographical connections, let me know in the comments - this is quite a brief entry at the moment, as with some early Presidents who were not geographers.
Updated August 2021
And, @trowelblazers Agnes Ramsay also wrote a novel in the 1890s based on her own experience travelling & excavating with her husband William Mitchell Ramsay in Turkey - I've just got a copy of this novel, I'm glad to say - it's called "The Romance of Elizavet"
— Dr Amara Thornton (@amalexathorn) January 29, 2021
Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Anyone remember these?
When I was at school in the 1970s, this piece of equipment, dating from the 1930s was still in use. Saved on a lot of photocopying for sure...
Advertisement in 'The Geographical Teacher'
We also had rocker maps, which were similar in terms of reusability, but made of what looked like tropical hardwoods. A big chunk of wood rounded with the rubber outline raised on a pad which was inked each time. With the mapograph, you had to get the registration right or the map looked a mess on the page, or was upside down...
Advertisement in 'The Geographical Teacher'
We also had rocker maps, which were similar in terms of reusability, but made of what looked like tropical hardwoods. A big chunk of wood rounded with the rubber outline raised on a pad which was inked each time. With the mapograph, you had to get the registration right or the map looked a mess on the page, or was upside down...
Monday, 10 June 2019
1919: An offer you can't refuse...
To teachers of geography in London...
Source:
“Editorial.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 1, 1919, pp. 1–3. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555791.
Source:
“Editorial.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 1, 1919, pp. 1–3. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555791.
Sunday, 9 June 2019
1918: The introduction of Standing Committees
Standing Committees were introduced to the Geographical Association in 1918.The first 4 committee established were:
- Exhibitions
- Regional Surveys
- Syllabuses and Examinations
- Books, Maps and Atlases
Update:
In 1922, the Tours committee was added, as part of the growth of the Tours the GA was running at the time to parts of the UK and also into Europe.
Over the years, the names of quite a few committees have come and gone, and been changed of course.
At the AGM in January, 2018, Balchin's book describes the formation of 4 Standing Committees, which were not organised in the same way as the present GA Committees.
Currently, the activity of the GA is overseen by Education Group (EG)
The Geographical Association's Education Group (EG) oversees the educational work of GA volunteers, covering all phases from foundation through to post-16 and Initial Teacher Training, as well as its international work and activities in areas such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC).
The Education Group's functions include:
formulating the educational policy of the GA and ensuring that provision is made for all aspects of geographical education
guiding the GA Governing Body on priorities for the educational work of the GA
overseeing, setting priorities for, and co-ordinating the actions of its sub-groups (Phase Committees, Special Interest Groups, Communication Boards, Working Parties)
taking action on education and professional matters identified by EG itself or its sub-groups, the GA Governing Body or other GA Officers.
EG meets formally three times a year, usually in January, May and September.
Education Group members are all elected or appointed from the GA membership and comprise a Chair, a Vice Chair, GA President, GA Senior Vice President, GA Junior Vice President, and the chairs of EG's sub-groups (Phase Committees, Special Interest Groups and Communication Boards). Current EG sub-groups are:
There are three Phase Committees
The Education Group's functions include:
formulating the educational policy of the GA and ensuring that provision is made for all aspects of geographical education
guiding the GA Governing Body on priorities for the educational work of the GA
overseeing, setting priorities for, and co-ordinating the actions of its sub-groups (Phase Committees, Special Interest Groups, Communication Boards, Working Parties)
taking action on education and professional matters identified by EG itself or its sub-groups, the GA Governing Body or other GA Officers.
EG meets formally three times a year, usually in January, May and September.
Education Group members are all elected or appointed from the GA membership and comprise a Chair, a Vice Chair, GA President, GA Senior Vice President, GA Junior Vice President, and the chairs of EG's sub-groups (Phase Committees, Special Interest Groups and Communication Boards). Current EG sub-groups are:
There are three Phase Committees
Secondary Phase Committee - I have served on the SPC for 15 years, and until I stepped down this week, was the Secretary of the committee. We meet 3 times a year in London, and always offer workshops and lectures at the GA Conference, and have previously been involved in consultations on curriculum change, publications, reviews and other consultations.
Some of the committee functions have been devolved / changed to become Special Interest Groups (SIGs)Currently the GA has the following SIGs.
If you would like to get involved with any of these committees, follow the link to their pages and contact the Chair to express an interest. We have recently recruited two new members on SPC for example.
The minutes I have been reading in 'Geography' and 'The Geographical Teacher' note quite a few Standing Committees that have come and gone over the years. I'd quite like to have served on some of these. One can imagine the tweed jackets, and ashtrays with smoke filling the rooms as the discussions continued....
I shall collate a list of these committees over the coming months, and post again several times to update you on some of the committees which have been and gone over the years. Some were short lived.
The Regional Survey Committee eventually led to the Land Utilisation Survey instigated by L. Dudley Stamp, for example.
Image on GA Committees taken from the GA website.
Image: SPC members, January 2019 - created by Ryan Bate
Please note that as of June 2019, I have stepped down from the SPC, to focus on my Presidency stint... starting in September 2019 as Junior Vice President.
Saturday, 8 June 2019
1917: Heading for Aber
Updated April 2020 & October 2020ABERYSTWYTH: 1917 - 1930
GA Honorary Secretary H. J. Fleure became the Professor of Geography and Anthropology at the University of Aberystwyth in 1917. He moved the GA’s library and office there, and used his Chairmanship of Council to promote international understanding as well as geography, so for the next 13 years the Association was based at the University of Aberystwyth.
Fleure became the President of the GA in 1948.
He will have his own entry on the blog in due course.
He did a huge amount for the GA, holding several other vital roles for many decades. He is one of the true greats of the Association.
This passage below is from a Royal Society biography of Fleure, and describes this period. He was one of a handful of GA Presidents to be elected to the Royal Society.
Looking at documents from the time, the GA's address was shown as 11 Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth.
I had a look on Google Street View for this building / address
Image copyright: Google Street View and image partners.
One of my aims for my Presidential year is to visit as many locations related to the history of the GA as possible, and to add some of my own images to the blog as possible to update the blog posts. I already have some images for some of the later presidents, which were taken over the years, but the blog has given me a slight additional purpose for visiting locations around the UK, which are associated with the development of the GA.
It's also important at this point that we mention several women who played a vital role at this time to maintain the library, and appropriate access to it.
- Mrs. Rachel Fleming completed a lot of work on a day-by-day basis for the Association, with very little pay offered, or available. There were fewer subscriptions to the Association because of the War. She served as Chief Clerk until 1930.
- Miss E J Rickard was Honorary Correspondence Secretary at this time.
They will both have their own posts on the blog in due course.
1923: The GA Library and postal borrowing service moves to Aberystwyth. Members pay an extra five shillings to use this service to borrow one of the 500 books.
The growth of the GA leads to the cessation of interest in educational matters by the RGS.
This last line was of interest, as it seems that for some time afterwards the RGS was "less concerned" with Education. That has all now changed of course, through the good works of Judith Mansell initially, and then Steve Brace and the current team who are involved in Education and Outdoor Learning at the RGS. There have been some interesting changes in the involvement of the RGS and IBG with schools over time. These will also be one of the recurring themes of the blog.
As we move nearer the time of the Action Plan for Geography of course, my knowledge of that relationship increases as I am proud to have been part of that team which delivered such a large and important project.
References
Garnett, Alice. “Herbert John Fleure. 1877-1969.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 16, 1970, pp. 253–278. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/769590.
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/about/centenary/historyofthedges/ - a mention for Fleure here
Fleure, H.J. (1953) "Sixty years of geography and education", Geography, vol.38, pp.231-264
Image of Fleure: from GA archive
New source
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=%22marguerita+oughton%22+sheffield&source=bl&ots=xln_U09sEO&sig=ACfU3U0BVaFI8t74PC7xxPHMiijd8QoLyQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbrsfys43pAhXKQEEAHeGlCCIQ6AEwAnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Fleure, H.J. (1953) "Sixty years of geography and education", Geography, vol.38, pp.231-264
Image of Fleure: from GA archive
New source
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=%22marguerita+oughton%22+sheffield&source=bl&ots=xln_U09sEO&sig=ACfU3U0BVaFI8t74PC7xxPHMiijd8QoLyQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbrsfys43pAhXKQEEAHeGlCCIQ6AEwAnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Friday, 7 June 2019
1917: Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich, KCMG, KCIE, CB, RE
Boundaries are the inevitable product of advancing civilisation; they are human inventions not necessarily supported by nature's dispositions, and as such they are only of solid value so long as they can be made strong enough and secure enough to prevent their violation and infringement.
Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich (1916)
Last update, August 2023In 1917, Sir Halford Mackinder returned to focussing on his MP duties, although he was still heavily active in various roles at the GA, and continued to be so for many years, acting as President of the GA's Council through into the 1930s.
The new President for 1917 was Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich. He was very much a military man - with a suitably impressive moustache as can be seen from the image.
When he took over as GA President, he was also serving as Vice-President of the RGS, with which he had been associated for over 50 years - another impressive service to geography being shown.
He was educated at Godolphin Grammar School and the Royal Military Academy, obtaining a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1862.
He saw active service in the Bhutan expedition of 1865, the Abyssinian campaign of 1867-68 and the Second Afghan War of 1878-79.
During peacetime, he was largely occupied with the survey of India, and served on the Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884-86, the Tasmar Boundary Commission of 1894, the Pamir Boundary Commission of 1895 and the Perso-Baluchistan Boundary Commission of 1896. He was also engaged in The Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case by the governments of Argentina and Chile in 1902 to define the boundary along the Andes Mountains.
Holdich was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal in 1887 and knighted in 1896.
As mentioned, Colonel Holdich was also Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society at the time, another person to have strong connections with both organisations.
As a military man, Colonel Holdich seemed to have a specific view on the value of Geography, particularly maps - bearing in mind these were produced by the Ordnance Survey, so had a military background to them as well.
"The science of geography covers so vast a field in all its varied aspects that it is impossible for any one man to be capable of expressing a useful opinion on many of the important questions involved in that careful consideration of the science as a whole which must necessarily result from a deep study of it such as you, as teachers of geography, have doubtless accorded to it. To put it shortly, you are far more capable of instructing me than I am of instructing you." (Holdich, 1917)
Holdich described the war as being "a geographical education in itself" and invited the GA's members and volunteers to prepare for the post-war period. This would be a period of upheaval and challenge for all organisations.
He is described in an earlier Bibliographical Study as "a distinguished imperial surveyor", which was his particular area of interest.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=itckCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT30&ots=Plar_gEAgW&dq=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&pg=PT35#v=onepage&q=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&f=false
Update
Holdich also referred to the importance of a home education, "which takes young children out of doors to observe natural features" and which teaches Boy Scouts to take stock of topographical details.
In retirement he wrote about Indian and Afghan geography and his own experiences.
He was also an accomplished artist.
Holdich died in 1929, and his obituary was published in 'Geography'. It referred to his military service of course, as well as the other achievements.
References
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Holdich
I edited the Wikipedia entry to add the fact that Colonel Holdich was the President of the Geographical Association. I shall do that for each President, as hardly any of their entries mentioned that before I started the blog.
Holdich, T. H. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION, 1917.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 1, 1917, pp. 13–24. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554527.
Obituary: “SIR THOMAS HUNGERFORD HOLDICH. Ob. November 4th, 1929.” Geography, vol. 15, no. 4, 1929, pp. 308–308. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557380.
“Colonel Holdich, a true gentleman, immediately captivated everyone by his presence, his cordial treatment, impartiality and rectitude. The result of his intellectual restlessness and the affection that he had for South American countries was the work that he published in London under the name The Countries of the Kings Award. In it, in addition to recounting his trip, he describes in their geographical, social and political aspects the countries he visited ”.
Thomas H. Holdich was superintendent of Frontier Surveys in India from 1842 to 1848. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was selected to establish the boundary between Argentina and Chile in Patagonia. He successfully used geographical methods in the solution of a particular set of problems, arising out of territorial disputes between Russia and Afghanistan; Argentina and Chile.
Even the delimitation of the McMahon Line on the map (8 inch to the mile) by Great Britain and Tibet, delimiting the Tibet-Assam boundary in 1914 at Simla was another example of the application of geographical principles and skill to solve the vexed problem of the boundary which had remained ill-defined for centuries.
It was an example of ‘applied’ work, because it was designed to resolve the problem of boundary delimitation in the Eastern Himalayan region. The British geographers and scholars who were in India during their colonial period had done extensive works of ‘applied’ nature.
During peacetime, he was largely occupied with the survey of India, and served on the Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884-86, the Tasmar Boundary Commission of 1894, the Pamir Boundary Commission of 1895 and the Perso-Baluchistan Boundary Commission of 1896. He was also engaged in The Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case by the governments of Argentina and Chile in 1902 to define the boundary along the Andes Mountains.
Holdich was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal in 1887 and knighted in 1896.
As mentioned, Colonel Holdich was also Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society at the time, another person to have strong connections with both organisations.
As a military man, Colonel Holdich seemed to have a specific view on the value of Geography, particularly maps - bearing in mind these were produced by the Ordnance Survey, so had a military background to them as well.
He was a Royal Engineer, and had a role supervising surveying in India, as well as other locations in his career.
Holdich's Presidential address aparently had no obvious title.
He starts the address by talking about the concerns he had about speaking to geography educators.
He starts the address by talking about the concerns he had about speaking to geography educators.
"The science of geography covers so vast a field in all its varied aspects that it is impossible for any one man to be capable of expressing a useful opinion on many of the important questions involved in that careful consideration of the science as a whole which must necessarily result from a deep study of it such as you, as teachers of geography, have doubtless accorded to it. To put it shortly, you are far more capable of instructing me than I am of instructing you." (Holdich, 1917)
On the subject of maps he says:
"I say, with all confidence, that it is maps which afford us the surest
outward and visible sign of a very real growth of public interest in the
science of geography. They are indeed our best advertisement at present."
(Holdich, 1917)
Quite a bit of his Presidential Address dwelt on the present conflict (the First World War) and possible outcomes for different parts of the world, and the influence of these on the future map of the world. On the matter of geopolitics, which was perhaps beyond the realm of the classroom, he said to those attending:
"You are a band of geographical thinkers. I expect that many of you are what Mr. Mackinder calls 'map thinkers'. It is for the Geographical Association which you represent, and for the Geographical Society and schools of geography generally, to impress, and if possible educate, public opinion in important questions such as these..."
(Holdich, 1917)
(Holdich, 1917)
Quite a bit of his Presidential Address dwelt on the present conflict (the First World War) and possible outcomes for different parts of the world, and the influence of these on the future map of the world. On the matter of geopolitics, which was perhaps beyond the realm of the classroom, he said to those attending:
"You are a band of geographical thinkers. I expect that many of you are what Mr. Mackinder calls 'map thinkers'. It is for the Geographical Association which you represent, and for the Geographical Society and schools of geography generally, to impress, and if possible educate, public opinion in important questions such as these..."
(Holdich, 1917)
Holdich described the war as being "a geographical education in itself" and invited the GA's members and volunteers to prepare for the post-war period. This would be a period of upheaval and challenge for all organisations.
He is described in an earlier Bibliographical Study as "a distinguished imperial surveyor", which was his particular area of interest.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=itckCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT30&ots=Plar_gEAgW&dq=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&pg=PT35#v=onepage&q=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&f=false
Update
Holdich also referred to the importance of a home education, "which takes young children out of doors to observe natural features" and which teaches Boy Scouts to take stock of topographical details.
In retirement he wrote about Indian and Afghan geography and his own experiences.He was also an accomplished artist.
Holdich died in 1929, and his obituary was published in 'Geography'. It referred to his military service of course, as well as the other achievements.
References
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Holdich
I edited the Wikipedia entry to add the fact that Colonel Holdich was the President of the Geographical Association. I shall do that for each President, as hardly any of their entries mentioned that before I started the blog.
Holdich, T. H. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION, 1917.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 1, 1917, pp. 13–24. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554527.
Obituary: “SIR THOMAS HUNGERFORD HOLDICH. Ob. November 4th, 1929.” Geography, vol. 15, no. 4, 1929, pp. 308–308. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557380.
Holdich's archive of correspondence with the RGS is stored in the RGS Archives and accessible to Fellows: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F33549
The Gates of India - a historical narrative: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42970
"The Englishman who got muddy in El Manso" - Chilean-Argentine diplomacy: https://www.elcordillerano.com.ar/noticias/2018/05/22/67758-el-ingles-que-se-lleno-de-barro-en-el-manso
Book on 'Political Frontiers and Boundary Making': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Political-Frontiers-Boundary-Hungerford-Holdich/dp/1347139095 - given the current concerns about national and international borders such as Trump's wall, this focus on borders remains important.
Image source: https://alchetron.com/Thomas-Holdich and Pinterest galleries.
As always, if anyone has further information relating to Colonel Holdich, please let me know so that I can expand on this post.
Updated August 2019
Holdich is also mentioned in "A History of the World in Twelve Maps" by Jerry Brotton (Penguin, 2012)
There is a chapter called 'Geopolitics' which mentions him, although it focusses on Halford Mackinder, who was also President, at a time when they were linked with the RGS. Brotton says that Mackinder "would almost single-handedly both transform the study of geography in England, and create a whole new way of understanding and using the subject: geopolitics".
When he climbed Mt. Kenya in 1899, Halford Mackinder was invited by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich to speak at the RGS. Another Presidential connection. I shall highlight many more of those as the blog develops.
As always, if anyone has further information relating to Colonel Holdich, please let me know so that I can expand on this post.
Updated August 2019
Holdich is also mentioned in "A History of the World in Twelve Maps" by Jerry Brotton (Penguin, 2012)
There is a chapter called 'Geopolitics' which mentions him, although it focusses on Halford Mackinder, who was also President, at a time when they were linked with the RGS. Brotton says that Mackinder "would almost single-handedly both transform the study of geography in England, and create a whole new way of understanding and using the subject: geopolitics".
When he climbed Mt. Kenya in 1899, Halford Mackinder was invited by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich to speak at the RGS. Another Presidential connection. I shall highlight many more of those as the blog develops.
Updated August 2021
Even the delimitation of the McMahon Line on the map (8 inch to the mile) by Great Britain and Tibet, delimiting the Tibet-Assam boundary in 1914 at Simla was another example of the application of geographical principles and skill to solve the vexed problem of the boundary which had remained ill-defined for centuries.
It was an example of ‘applied’ work, because it was designed to resolve the problem of boundary delimitation in the Eastern Himalayan region. The British geographers and scholars who were in India during their colonial period had done extensive works of ‘applied’ nature.
Updated August 2023
Some tweaks and amendments.
Muchas gracias coronel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich, geógrafo inglés y presidente de la Royal Geographical Society. pic.twitter.com/j4KL4H4VSC
— John Hunter (@JuanHunterARG) June 13, 2023
En Nombre de la Corona, fue designado el Coronel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich, quien ya tenía experiencia con laudos limítrofes pic.twitter.com/99bq7xe3Mb
— Dreadnoughtus 🇦🇷🇦🇶 † (@ElPampero1955) February 16, 2023
Tangi Wardak, Afghanistan, 1880.
— Barmazid (@Pashz7) February 12, 2023
Painting by Thomas Hungerford Holdich (1843 – 1929). pic.twitter.com/mMNOCSCfk1
Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich KCMG
— John Hunter (@JuanHunterARG) June 28, 2022
Fue comisionado del Tribunal Arbitral que se conformó en Gran Bretaña a raíz de la solicitud argentino – chilena, como consecuencia del desacuerdo en materia de límites. Integró el cuerpo al momento de emitir el fallo. pic.twitter.com/WlTMZYVWjZ
Thursday, 6 June 2019
1916-18: Geography and the First World War
"The war has been a geographical education in itself. It is impossible that you should have missed the geographical application to the movements of the war. Mountains and rivers, deserts and marshes have all played their part, and in many cases have exhibited new and unexpected values.... The value of map reading and map thinking is generally if not universally recognised."
(Holdich, 1917)
By 1916, the impacts of the war were being felt in all areas, and the GA was not immune from this. There were issues with membership, and renewals and administration around contacting people. Some members were called up, of course.
The Spring issue of 'The Geographical Teacher' was slimmer than usual because of a rise in costs associated with printing and distributing the journal to its subscribers. The Summer issue was even slimmer. These issues were mostly concerned with GA business rather than new articles on pedagogy and curriculum, and fewer books to review were published.
There was also an Editorial on the war on p.2 of the journal.
The new editors were H. O. Beckit and P. M. Roxby, who took over from the late A. J. Herbertson
It's interesting to hear how they realised that subjects would be reappraised for their value at this time. and that this was an area where Geography had its strengths.
This theme was also taken up in 1917, when the GA President was a military man: Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich.
In his Presidential Address he referred to the was as "a geographical education in itself."
Considering the period once the war ended, he suggested that this was an opportunity.
"I do not know what shape our representations in Government in the matter of giving a better placeto geography in the new educational programme may take, but whatever it is, we shall certainly be faced by the practical question of demand. Is it wanted?"
"Well then, we must set to work to create the demand, and it is for the Association to set the example. We must revise if necessary our system of education in our elementary and secondary schools.."
Following the war, there was a rebound and a rapid growth in GA membership. Things were starting to happen... and this blog will share the story of what happened over the coming decades...
Update
This was H. J. Fleure's call to arms at the end of the war, in the Annual Report of 1918 that he wrote:
References
Holdich, T. H. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION, 1917.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 1, 1917, pp. 13–24. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554527.
Source: “EDITORIAL.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 4, 1916, pp. 211–215. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554491.
Image: from National Library of Scotland - Trench Maps near Amiens, France.
'Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland'
FLEURE, H. J. “The Geographical Association: ANNUAL REPORT, 1918.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 10, no. 1, 1919, pp. 35–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555811.
Update 2 (July 2019)
I came across an article by Rex Walford in 1993 called 'Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum' which provided more details on the activities of the GA during the First World War and also the Second World War.
This also provided more information on Mackinder himself.
Reference
Walford, Rex: ' Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum' (Geography, Vol 78, 1993)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40572493
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Enid Blyton on Geography...
Enid Blyton, quoted in R. J. Finch (1924) as mentioned in Rex Walford's book on School Geography
Monday, 3 June 2019
Quote of the Day
"I say, with all confidence, that it is maps which afford us the surest outward and visible sign of a very real growth of public interest in the science of geography. They are indeed our best advertisement at present."
(Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, 1917) - Presidential Address
1916: Geography and History - rapprochement
It was interesting to read, in the GA's Annual Report of 1916, that the Annual Meeting that year (which eventually became the conference) was the first joint conference with the Historical Association.
There were discussions on Halford Mackinder's proposal to combine the teaching of history and geography in elementary (primary) schools and the lower forms of secondary schools. There were reservations from Professor Muir of the HA that some geography teachers tended to use "crude and dangerously materialistic explanation of historical development"
The meeting was clear that both subjects were "working towards a common goal". There was still the spectre of environmental determinism being raised here and discussions over monotheism.
Meetings have been held between the GA and other subject associations over the years since, and the GA is part of CFSA - the Council for Subject Associations, with Alan Kinder acting as a Director.
There will be other geography-history related discussions reported here in future posts.
There were discussions on Halford Mackinder's proposal to combine the teaching of history and geography in elementary (primary) schools and the lower forms of secondary schools. There were reservations from Professor Muir of the HA that some geography teachers tended to use "crude and dangerously materialistic explanation of historical development"
The meeting was clear that both subjects were "working towards a common goal". There was still the spectre of environmental determinism being raised here and discussions over monotheism.
Meetings have been held between the GA and other subject associations over the years since, and the GA is part of CFSA - the Council for Subject Associations, with Alan Kinder acting as a Director.
There will be other geography-history related discussions reported here in future posts.
Sunday, 2 June 2019
Quote of the Day
Another knowledge based quote this one, from 1915... From George Morris...
Source: Morris, George. “IV. Regional Survey as a Help in Science Teaching.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 3, 1915, pp. 167–169. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555840.
Source: Morris, George. “IV. Regional Survey as a Help in Science Teaching.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 3, 1915, pp. 167–169. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555840.
Saturday, 1 June 2019
1916: Sir Halford J Mackinder MP
Original post last updated September 2023
Halford Mackinder was another of the original members of the Geographical Association, who helped set it up.
He was present at the first meeting of the nascent association in the Common room of Christchurch College, Oxford University. I have previously blogged about this meeting, and the Presidency of Douglas Freshfield, who was also present at the meeting.
Halford Mackinder was a real giant of early 20th century Geography, although his legacy is certainly problematic and needs criticising.
At the time when he became President of the Association, during the First World War, he was already the Chairman of the GA Council, and Member of Parliament (for the constituency of Glasgow Camlachie), and doubtless was sitting on lots of committees and chairing meetings across London. He was also a qualified Barrister.
As with many of the GA's Presidents, he was an influential and tireless promoter of Geography, but also worked in other spheres. He was a prolific author as well. I shall list some of his publications later.
He was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire - there is a location I will need to visit on my tour of GA places of interest. The house he was born in has a plaque which describes him as a:
GEOGRAPHER, ADMINISTRATOR, AUTHOR,
EXPLORER, POLITICIAN, PUBLIC SERVANT.
Here's an image of the plaque.
He was the British High Commissioner in Southern Russia for some time.
Charles W. J. Withers, et al. “Geography’s Other Histories? Geography and Science in the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1831-c.1933.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 31, no. 4, 2006, pp. 433–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4639988. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.
He was present at the first meeting of the nascent association in the Common room of Christchurch College, Oxford University. I have previously blogged about this meeting, and the Presidency of Douglas Freshfield, who was also present at the meeting.
Halford Mackinder was a real giant of early 20th century Geography, although his legacy is certainly problematic and needs criticising.
At the time when he became President of the Association, during the First World War, he was already the Chairman of the GA Council, and Member of Parliament (for the constituency of Glasgow Camlachie), and doubtless was sitting on lots of committees and chairing meetings across London. He was also a qualified Barrister.
As with many of the GA's Presidents, he was an influential and tireless promoter of Geography, but also worked in other spheres. He was a prolific author as well. I shall list some of his publications later.
He was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire - there is a location I will need to visit on my tour of GA places of interest. The house he was born in has a plaque which describes him as a:
GEOGRAPHER, ADMINISTRATOR, AUTHOR,
EXPLORER, POLITICIAN, PUBLIC SERVANT.
Here's an image of the plaque.
Source: John Spooner.
In 1895, he was also one of the founders of the London School of Economics - another very significant achievement, and was Professor Geographer there from 1923.
He was a Scottish Unionist MP (1910-1922)
In 1895, he was also one of the founders of the London School of Economics - another very significant achievement, and was Professor Geographer there from 1923.
He was a Scottish Unionist MP (1910-1922)
He was the British High Commissioner in Southern Russia for some time.
It's just as well that I don't compare myself with some of the exploits of former Presidents, as I've not got quite as impressive a CV, although I did work in King's Lynn for 20 years.
Prior to that, Mackinder had travelled the country expounding his "new geography". He had also travelled in Africa and other parts of the world at the end of the 19th Century (see later for more on this period.)
In 1911, Mackinder spoke at the Board of Education's Imperial Geography Conference.
Prior to that, Mackinder had travelled the country expounding his "new geography". He had also travelled in Africa and other parts of the world at the end of the 19th Century (see later for more on this period.)
In 1911, Mackinder spoke at the Board of Education's Imperial Geography Conference.
This was a time of Empire, which naturally influenced the nature of Geography, both in the UK, but also in those countries which Britain administrated. The lecture was later published in 'The Geographical Teacher' but introduced the idea that Geography involves... "a special mode and habit of thought... a special kind of visualisation" which he referred to as "thinking geographically" (a phrase we still use today - the idea of 'thinking like a geographer'. Although Mackinder would have thought like an Imperialist too.
During his Presidency, Mackinder set the Association back on a stronger footing, following the previous Presidency of Hilaire Belloc's, and this despite the fact that the First World War was now in its second year (it had not been 'all over by Christmas', and many more men had signed up to fight in the trenches.
During his Presidency, Mackinder set the Association back on a stronger footing, following the previous Presidency of Hilaire Belloc's, and this despite the fact that the First World War was now in its second year (it had not been 'all over by Christmas', and many more men had signed up to fight in the trenches.
He referred to Belloc's time as President in his address the following year as being undertaken "very brilliantly, but perhaps with a little of the waywardness of the literary artist... I am not sure that we all feel that he wholly carried out his purpose."
It will be interesting to see if more recent Presidents have a habit of talking about their predecessors in quite the same way. (Perhaps not in public anyway...)
In 1914, following Keltie's Presidential Address, Mackinder also talked about some of his early geographical memories. This can be read using the references in the blog post on Keltie's time as President.
During the time that Mackinder worked with the GA, he had his 'lieutenant' to support him: A. J. Herbertson, who had a great influence on the GA. I have blogged previously about Herbertson's work, and the gratitude that Mackinder had for his work for the Association. One of the things he did was to reflect on the contributions made by Andrew John Herbertson, in a long and emotional tribute to one of the founders of the GA, who died in July 1915, and who has his own entry in this blog, despite never having been President.
His own Presidential Address doesn't have a stated title and was fairly brief and unfocussed. He does start it by giving a perfectly reasonable excuse though:
"My good intentions were to have a printed text of what I am going to say to put before you. But this is a time of war, and an important Treasury Committee has, of late, occupied my time". I won't have that same excuse I'm sure. It was delivered at University College, on Gower Street in London on the 6th of January 1916. He suggested that "I think we may say that in this war the geographer has come into his own."
This was in reference to the need for the general public to follow the events taking place in the war, and realising the value of maps to understand what was happening in locations around the globe, and where they were in relation to the UK.
In 1919, Mackinder published a book which was very influential in geopolitics and introduced some key ideas that were adopted by many geography teachers and academics. The book, Democratic Ideals and Reality explored some global risks for the future.
He was knighted in 1919, as reported in the GA's Annual Report of that year.
This New Statesman article from a year ago, outlines the prescience of Mackinder in recognising some possible future threats to the stability of the world order, and describes him as the "father of geopolitics". He would have got on well with Tim Marshall no doubt with his views on how the world developed.
Halford Mackinder's name is commemorated in a Professorship chair at Oxford University: a position held, at the time of writing, by the most excellent Professor Danny Dorling. There is also a lecture theatre named after him at the University. This sounds like another place I need to try to get to visit during my Presidential year of visiting places associated with the GA.
Mackinder was influential in his teaching, and many other GA Presidents owe him a debt of gratitude for the work that he did during the early decades of the Association, and for setting out some of the expectations of the role, and a benchmark for how it might be performed.
Mackinder's Presidential year ended with the GA in a stronger position than when he took it on, but the First World War was still raging, and there were some fresh challenges ahead for the GA, as we shall explore in future posts.
Update
He also had a remarkably long lasting career in Geography, and was active in the GA even through into the 1940s.
He presented at the GA Conference in 1943, where he said:
Has not the time come when we should base at least the secondary stage of our teaching on a global outlook? Is not the entire planetary surface now, for many purposes, the only 'natural' region, but with the advantage that, being a closed area, it admits of the accurate comparison of many orders of pattern?
He was Chair of Council until 1946. The IBG itself was founded in 1933, and eventually joined with the RGS.
He published a great many books - a partial list is shown here:
Books and Publications - taken from Wikipedia
Mackinder, H.J. "On the Scope and Methods of Geography", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Mar. 1887), pp. 141–174.
Mackinder, H.J. Sadler, M.E. University extension: has it a future?, London, Frowde, 1890.
Mackinder, H.J. "The Physical Basis of Political Geography", Scottish Geographical Magazine Vol 6, No 2, 1890, pp. 78-84.
Mackinder, H.J. "A Journey to the Summit of Mount Kenya, British East Africa", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 5 (May 1900), pp. 453–476.
Mackinder, H.J. Britain and the British Seas. New York: D. Appleton and company, 1902.
Mackinder, H.J. "An Expedition to Possil, an Outpost on the Frontiers of the Civilised World", The Times. 12 October 1903.
Mackinder, H.J. "The geographical pivot of history". The Geographical Journal, 1904, 23, pp. 421–37. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The Geographical Pivot of History", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 175–194.
Mackinder, H.J. "Man-Power as a Measure of National and Imperial Strength", National and English Review, XLV, 1905.
Mackinder, H.J. "Geography and History", The Times. 9 February 1905.
Mackinder, H.J. as editor of The Regions of the World series which includes the 1902 Britain and the British Seas mentioned above—which included The Nearer East by D.G. Hogarth London, Henry Frowde, 1902 and 1905
Mackinder, H.J. Our Own Islands: An Elementary Study in Geography, London: G. Philips, 1907
Mackinder, H.J. The Rhine: Its Valley & History. New York: Dodd, Mead. 1908.
Mackinder, H.J. Eight Lectures on India. London : Waterlow, 1910.
Mackinder, H.J. The Modern British State: An Introduction to the Study of Civics. London: G. Philip, 1914.
Mackinder, H.J. Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction. New York: Holt, 1919.
Mackinder, H.J. 1943. "The round world and the winning of the peace", Foreign Affairs, 21 (1943) 595–605. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The round world and the winning of the peace", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 195–205.
Taken from Wikipedia.
Looking at a few sources it's clear that Mackinder's works are still valuable as they command high second hand prices.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halford_Mackinder
Source of image at the top of the entry
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Halford-Mackinder
Edited to include Mackinder's GA Presidency, as I have with all the Presidents' Wikipedia entries during this project.
Appreciation of A.J. Herberton:
Mackinder, H. J., et al. “ANDREW JOHN HERBERTSON.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 3, 1915, pp. 143–146. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555835.
Image credit: Royal Geographical Society / Geographical Association
Presidential Address: KELTIE, J. SCOTT. “THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 7, no. 4, 1914, pp. 215–227. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555979.
New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/halford-mackinder-father-geopolitics
Critique of Mackinder's idea of the geographical 'pivot': https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_HER_146_0139--the-geographical-pivot-of-history.htm
Dodds, Klaus, and James D. Sidaway. “Halford Mackinder and the 'Geographical Pivot of History': A Centennial Retrospective.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no. 4, 2004, pp. 292–297. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3451459.
Entry in Dictionary of Geographical Biographies: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080449104006283
Presidential Address:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40544791
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/147447409400100203?journalCode=cgja
Image of Mackinder's house with plaque: http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com/2013/02/halford-mackinder-in-gainsborough.html
If anyone has further information relating to Mackinder which you think would improve this post, please get in touch.
Update (June 2019)
Perhaps the definitive account of this era of the GA, when Mackinder was president, was written by H. J. Fleure, and can be read on the JSTOR by subscribers to 'Geography'
Access it here.
Thanks also to Carl Lee for, first of all being one of the few people actively reading the blog at the moment, and secondly for suggesting some other links to update me on some of Halford Mackinder's other travels, and some more controversial elements of those. I will be adding some further information here, relating to his ascent of Mt. Kenya, and the associated expedition once I've had a chance to do a bit more reading. There are some additional sources mentioned below which weren't included in the original thinking and research, showing how he led to poor treatment of local people on his African journeys.
There is a biography of Halford Mackinder written by Brian Blouet, which Carl refers to, and which I shall try to get access to.
I also found this related article on Mackinder on the Perspectives on Africa blog.
It's written by Simone Pelizza of the University of Leeds
A few extracts...
"...he also became famous in his era for the first successful ascent of Mount Kenya in 1899, when he reached the peak of this great African mountain after three months of dramatic efforts. Indeed, this achievement is still highly debated among biographers of the character, due to the obscure events surrounding its lucky conclusion."
and also, Mackinder and his travelling companions:
"...did not show any humanitarian concern in the fulfilling of their ambitious African project, sharing the crude racial prejudices of their time. In this sense, the expedition to Mount Kenya perfectly represent the spirit of European imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century, full of violence, greed, and psychological obsession. A toxic mixture well captured by Joseph Conrad in his great novel Heart of Darkness, published some years later as part of the wide international campaign against Belgian atrocities in the Congo.'
Mackinder also has a rare species of owl named after him: Bubo capensis mackinderi - possibly the only GA President to have an owl named after him - unless you know different...
Also this article readable on JSTOR:
Blouet, Brian W. “The Imperial Vision of Halford Mackinder.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no. 4, 2004, pp. 322–329. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3451461.
Update - June 2019
A big addition to the post...
On the impact of 'On the Scope and Methods in Geography'
Drawn from Emily Hayes' PhD
Geographical projections: lantern-slides and the making of geographical knowledge at the Royal Geographical Society c.1885 – 1924
Read more at https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/23096#PSdvQPc7baSCXDiL.99
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/23096
Emily describes the lecture, and the impact that it had. It predates the GA.
Mackinder is described by Hudson as "one of the fathers of modern geography". Hayes describes it as a "multi-media lantern slide lecture performance".
Lantern slides were the keynote of their day.
Clements Markham said the lecture was...
"a brilliant production, most suggestive, and calculated to establish geography’s place among the sciences. I read it with great interest."
Additional references
Gilbert, The Right Honourable Sir Halford J. Mackinder, P. C., 1861-1947, 93; Cosgrove, Geography and Vision, 125 and 133-34.
Hudson, The new geography and the new imperialism, 1870-1918, Antipode 9 (2), (1972), 12-13; Stoddart, Geography and war, 87; Scargill, The RGS and the foundations of geography at Oxford.
Update: late June 2019
While researching some other Presidents, I came across a Rex Walford article on the GA, and Mackinder in wartime. I haven't read the article yet, but I think it is going to provide a wealth of additional detail on this period of the GA, and the work of the Presidents.
Walford, Rex. “Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 117–123. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572493.
Another update Late June 2019
Writing the blog post for Edmund William Gilbert in 1922, and came across reference to Mackinder's Seven Lamps of Geography.
These need to be added in here, and I will do that shortly.
Update, early July 2019
The seven lamps are referred to in the article by V. W. Tidswell from 1990.
They are the areas which are mentioned in a paper by Gilbert (another GA President) in 1951 called 'The Seven Lamps of Geography'.
These are described by Tidswell as 'burning on today' as the attainment targets in the National Curriculum.
"The idea of the region was fundamental to all Mackinder's teaching. He was concerned with distributions in space and their inter-relationships, and aimed to answer the same questions as we pose today: Where? How? Why there? But not, where ought..."
Seven Lamps of Geography
The Region
The Homeland and the Empire
World Geography
The Unity of Geography
The Map
Applied Geography
The Philosophy of Geography
References
Coones, Paul. “The Centenary of the Mackinder Readership at Oxford.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 155, no. 1, 1989, pp. 13–23. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/635377.
Also some BBC videos.
Orford, E. J. “THE 'TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY' EXHIBITION.” Geography, vol. 17, no. 3, 1932, pp. 216–218. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40558338.
Update August 2019 - from Brotton's book.
Mackinder is also mentioned in "A History of the World in Twelve Maps" by Jerry Brotton (Penguin, 2012)
There is a chapter called 'Geopolitics' which mentions him, and also Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, who was also President, at a time when they were linked with the RGS. Brotton says that Mackinder "would almost single-handedly both transform the study of geography in England, and create a whole new way of understanding and using the subject: geopolitics".
Brotton says that Mackinder recalled, at the age of 82, hearing news about Napoleon III. He was also caned at school "for drawing maps instead of writing Latin prose". His boyhood games apparently included "being King of an island on which 'civilised its usually backward inhabitants'."
He became the President of the Oxford Union in 1883.
Brotton describes the travels in 1886-7 when Mackinder lectured on his "New Geography" apparently with the aim of 'gradually familiarising intelligent people throughout the country with the idea that geography consisted neither of lists of names nor of traveller's tales".
He also added some detail on Mackinder's lecture on Geography at the RGS in 1887 when he presented his ideas. He said 'a worthy Admiral, a member of Council, sat in the front row and kept muttering "Damn cheek" throughout the lecture, particularly when Mackinder suggested the RGS might close as tales of adventure grew fewer.
He concluded by saying, that geography might represent a study of the classics as "the common element in the culture of all men, a ground on which specialists could meet".
Sir Francis Galton, a council member was not sure about Mackinder's claim that geography was a science.
Mackinder's 'Presidential address' to the GA in 1895 according to Brotton, which is impossible of course, as he wasn't President.
It was called 'Modern Geography, German and English", explaining how our maps were ahead of the German, but with von Humboldt and Ritter, we were behind the Germans in other respects.
For Mackinder, "a map was not the territory it claimed to depict, but an interpretation of the geological, biological and anthropological elements which made up that territory".
When he climbed Mt. Kenya in 1899, he was invited by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich to speak at the RGS.
Pivot of history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History
Image from the 1940s
Another of Mackinder's contributions was a slogan:
Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland
Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island
Who rules the World Island commands the World
Updated August 18th 2019
A BBC Radio 4 programme from today.
What can the ideas of two long-dead geopolitical thinkers tell us about relations between Russia, China and America today?
Documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces how, in the late 19th century, an American sea captain turned scholar, Alfred Thayer Mahan, drew on the historic successes of Britain’s Royal Navy to argue that sea power was a decisive force in world history, and that the rising United States should establish its own permanent naval forces.
But then a British geographer, Sir Halford Mackinder, spotted the revolutionary potential of the new Trans-Siberian Railway, and argued that land power, in the form of the Eurasian Heartland could now mobilise its resources to outdo British sea power.
Both men’s ideas have had profound influence on geopolitical thinking ever since. Today, as the post-war international order falters, Phil talks to leading scholars and strategists to discern what influence Mahan’s and Mackinder’s ideas are having on our new era of great power rivalry – between NATO and Russia in the Black and Baltic Seas, between Russia and China in the Eurasian heartland as the Belt and Road stretches westward, and between China and the USA, in the hotly-disputed waters of the South China Sea.
And he asks whether, in a globalised world, ends that were once pursued by military means are now being achieved through commerce, but in pursuit of the same hard geopolitical aims.
With contributions from: Professor James R. Holmes, Professor Charles Kupchan, Dr Nick Megoran, Professor Rana Mitter, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Professor Angela Stent, Dr Dmitri Trenin
October 2019
A contribution in Darby's recollections of the period.
Darby, H. C. “Academic Geography in Britain: 1918-1946.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 8, no. 1, 1983, pp. 14–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/622271.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UI7020CCNsoC&lpg=PA7&ots=NHbnZgpoRx&dq=the%20british%20isles%20ogilvie%201928&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false
the development of the REGION as a concept
Update: December 2019
https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/2966 - a reference in a journal by Hugh Clout
It will be interesting to see if more recent Presidents have a habit of talking about their predecessors in quite the same way. (Perhaps not in public anyway...)
In 1914, following Keltie's Presidential Address, Mackinder also talked about some of his early geographical memories. This can be read using the references in the blog post on Keltie's time as President.
During the time that Mackinder worked with the GA, he had his 'lieutenant' to support him: A. J. Herbertson, who had a great influence on the GA. I have blogged previously about Herbertson's work, and the gratitude that Mackinder had for his work for the Association. One of the things he did was to reflect on the contributions made by Andrew John Herbertson, in a long and emotional tribute to one of the founders of the GA, who died in July 1915, and who has his own entry in this blog, despite never having been President.
His own Presidential Address doesn't have a stated title and was fairly brief and unfocussed. He does start it by giving a perfectly reasonable excuse though:
"My good intentions were to have a printed text of what I am going to say to put before you. But this is a time of war, and an important Treasury Committee has, of late, occupied my time". I won't have that same excuse I'm sure. It was delivered at University College, on Gower Street in London on the 6th of January 1916. He suggested that "I think we may say that in this war the geographer has come into his own."
This was in reference to the need for the general public to follow the events taking place in the war, and realising the value of maps to understand what was happening in locations around the globe, and where they were in relation to the UK.
In 1919, Mackinder published a book which was very influential in geopolitics and introduced some key ideas that were adopted by many geography teachers and academics. The book, Democratic Ideals and Reality explored some global risks for the future.
He was knighted in 1919, as reported in the GA's Annual Report of that year.
This New Statesman article from a year ago, outlines the prescience of Mackinder in recognising some possible future threats to the stability of the world order, and describes him as the "father of geopolitics". He would have got on well with Tim Marshall no doubt with his views on how the world developed.
Halford Mackinder's name is commemorated in a Professorship chair at Oxford University: a position held, at the time of writing, by the most excellent Professor Danny Dorling. There is also a lecture theatre named after him at the University. This sounds like another place I need to try to get to visit during my Presidential year of visiting places associated with the GA.
Mackinder was influential in his teaching, and many other GA Presidents owe him a debt of gratitude for the work that he did during the early decades of the Association, and for setting out some of the expectations of the role, and a benchmark for how it might be performed.
Mackinder's Presidential year ended with the GA in a stronger position than when he took it on, but the First World War was still raging, and there were some fresh challenges ahead for the GA, as we shall explore in future posts.
Update
He also had a remarkably long lasting career in Geography, and was active in the GA even through into the 1940s.
He presented at the GA Conference in 1943, where he said:
Has not the time come when we should base at least the secondary stage of our teaching on a global outlook? Is not the entire planetary surface now, for many purposes, the only 'natural' region, but with the advantage that, being a closed area, it admits of the accurate comparison of many orders of pattern?
He was Chair of Council until 1946. The IBG itself was founded in 1933, and eventually joined with the RGS.
He published a great many books - a partial list is shown here:
Books and Publications - taken from Wikipedia
Mackinder, H.J. "On the Scope and Methods of Geography", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Mar. 1887), pp. 141–174.
Mackinder, H.J. Sadler, M.E. University extension: has it a future?, London, Frowde, 1890.
Mackinder, H.J. "The Physical Basis of Political Geography", Scottish Geographical Magazine Vol 6, No 2, 1890, pp. 78-84.
Mackinder, H.J. "A Journey to the Summit of Mount Kenya, British East Africa", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 5 (May 1900), pp. 453–476.
Mackinder, H.J. Britain and the British Seas. New York: D. Appleton and company, 1902.
Mackinder, H.J. "An Expedition to Possil, an Outpost on the Frontiers of the Civilised World", The Times. 12 October 1903.
Mackinder, H.J. "The geographical pivot of history". The Geographical Journal, 1904, 23, pp. 421–37. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The Geographical Pivot of History", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 175–194.
Mackinder, H.J. "Man-Power as a Measure of National and Imperial Strength", National and English Review, XLV, 1905.
Mackinder, H.J. "Geography and History", The Times. 9 February 1905.
Mackinder, H.J. as editor of The Regions of the World series which includes the 1902 Britain and the British Seas mentioned above—which included The Nearer East by D.G. Hogarth London, Henry Frowde, 1902 and 1905
Mackinder, H.J. Our Own Islands: An Elementary Study in Geography, London: G. Philips, 1907
Mackinder, H.J. The Rhine: Its Valley & History. New York: Dodd, Mead. 1908.
Mackinder, H.J. Eight Lectures on India. London : Waterlow, 1910.
Mackinder, H.J. The Modern British State: An Introduction to the Study of Civics. London: G. Philip, 1914.
Mackinder, H.J. Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction. New York: Holt, 1919.
Mackinder, H.J. 1943. "The round world and the winning of the peace", Foreign Affairs, 21 (1943) 595–605. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The round world and the winning of the peace", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 195–205.
Taken from Wikipedia.
Looking at a few sources it's clear that Mackinder's works are still valuable as they command high second hand prices.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halford_Mackinder
Source of image at the top of the entry
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Halford-Mackinder
Edited to include Mackinder's GA Presidency, as I have with all the Presidents' Wikipedia entries during this project.
Appreciation of A.J. Herberton:
Mackinder, H. J., et al. “ANDREW JOHN HERBERTSON.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 3, 1915, pp. 143–146. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555835.
Image credit: Royal Geographical Society / Geographical Association
Presidential Address: KELTIE, J. SCOTT. “THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 7, no. 4, 1914, pp. 215–227. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555979.
New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/halford-mackinder-father-geopolitics
Critique of Mackinder's idea of the geographical 'pivot': https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_HER_146_0139--the-geographical-pivot-of-history.htm
Dodds, Klaus, and James D. Sidaway. “Halford Mackinder and the 'Geographical Pivot of History': A Centennial Retrospective.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no. 4, 2004, pp. 292–297. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3451459.
Entry in Dictionary of Geographical Biographies: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080449104006283
Presidential Address:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40544791
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/147447409400100203?journalCode=cgja
Image of Mackinder's house with plaque: http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com/2013/02/halford-mackinder-in-gainsborough.html
If anyone has further information relating to Mackinder which you think would improve this post, please get in touch.
Update (June 2019)
Perhaps the definitive account of this era of the GA, when Mackinder was president, was written by H. J. Fleure, and can be read on the JSTOR by subscribers to 'Geography'
Access it here.
Thanks also to Carl Lee for, first of all being one of the few people actively reading the blog at the moment, and secondly for suggesting some other links to update me on some of Halford Mackinder's other travels, and some more controversial elements of those. I will be adding some further information here, relating to his ascent of Mt. Kenya, and the associated expedition once I've had a chance to do a bit more reading. There are some additional sources mentioned below which weren't included in the original thinking and research, showing how he led to poor treatment of local people on his African journeys.
There is a biography of Halford Mackinder written by Brian Blouet, which Carl refers to, and which I shall try to get access to.
I also found this related article on Mackinder on the Perspectives on Africa blog.
It's written by Simone Pelizza of the University of Leeds
A few extracts...
"...he also became famous in his era for the first successful ascent of Mount Kenya in 1899, when he reached the peak of this great African mountain after three months of dramatic efforts. Indeed, this achievement is still highly debated among biographers of the character, due to the obscure events surrounding its lucky conclusion."
and also, Mackinder and his travelling companions:
"...did not show any humanitarian concern in the fulfilling of their ambitious African project, sharing the crude racial prejudices of their time. In this sense, the expedition to Mount Kenya perfectly represent the spirit of European imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century, full of violence, greed, and psychological obsession. A toxic mixture well captured by Joseph Conrad in his great novel Heart of Darkness, published some years later as part of the wide international campaign against Belgian atrocities in the Congo.'
Mackinder also has a rare species of owl named after him: Bubo capensis mackinderi - possibly the only GA President to have an owl named after him - unless you know different...
Also this article readable on JSTOR:
Blouet, Brian W. “The Imperial Vision of Halford Mackinder.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no. 4, 2004, pp. 322–329. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3451461.
Update - June 2019
A big addition to the post...On the impact of 'On the Scope and Methods in Geography'
Drawn from Emily Hayes' PhD
Geographical projections: lantern-slides and the making of geographical knowledge at the Royal Geographical Society c.1885 – 1924
Read more at https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/23096#PSdvQPc7baSCXDiL.99
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/23096
Emily describes the lecture, and the impact that it had. It predates the GA.
Mackinder is described by Hudson as "one of the fathers of modern geography". Hayes describes it as a "multi-media lantern slide lecture performance".
Lantern slides were the keynote of their day.
Clements Markham said the lecture was...
"a brilliant production, most suggestive, and calculated to establish geography’s place among the sciences. I read it with great interest."
Additional references
Gilbert, The Right Honourable Sir Halford J. Mackinder, P. C., 1861-1947, 93; Cosgrove, Geography and Vision, 125 and 133-34.
Hudson, The new geography and the new imperialism, 1870-1918, Antipode 9 (2), (1972), 12-13; Stoddart, Geography and war, 87; Scargill, The RGS and the foundations of geography at Oxford.
Update: late June 2019
While researching some other Presidents, I came across a Rex Walford article on the GA, and Mackinder in wartime. I haven't read the article yet, but I think it is going to provide a wealth of additional detail on this period of the GA, and the work of the Presidents.
Walford, Rex. “Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 117–123. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572493.
Another update Late June 2019
Writing the blog post for Edmund William Gilbert in 1922, and came across reference to Mackinder's Seven Lamps of Geography.
These need to be added in here, and I will do that shortly.
Update, early July 2019
The seven lamps are referred to in the article by V. W. Tidswell from 1990.
They are the areas which are mentioned in a paper by Gilbert (another GA President) in 1951 called 'The Seven Lamps of Geography'.
These are described by Tidswell as 'burning on today' as the attainment targets in the National Curriculum.
"The idea of the region was fundamental to all Mackinder's teaching. He was concerned with distributions in space and their inter-relationships, and aimed to answer the same questions as we pose today: Where? How? Why there? But not, where ought..."
Seven Lamps of Geography
The Region
The Homeland and the Empire
World Geography
The Unity of Geography
The Map
Applied Geography
The Philosophy of Geography
References
Coones, Paul. “The Centenary of the Mackinder Readership at Oxford.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 155, no. 1, 1989, pp. 13–23. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/635377.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/096262989290021K?via%3Dihub
Capes, Concepts and Conscience: Continuity in the Curriculum, V. W. Tidswell - Geography, Vol 75 No. 4 (1990)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40571878
Capes, Concepts and Conscience: Continuity in the Curriculum, V. W. Tidswell - Geography, Vol 75 No. 4 (1990)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40571878
MACKINDER, H. J. “THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY FROM AN IMPERIAL POINT OF VIEW, AND THE USE WHICH COULD AND SHOULD BE MADE OF VISUAL INSTRUCTION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 6, no. 2, 1911, pp. 79–86. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554112.
Update
Additional image, found on Twitter.
Also found some details of the exhibition that Mackinder curated in London in 1932.Update
Additional image, found on Twitter.
Also some BBC videos.
Orford, E. J. “THE 'TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY' EXHIBITION.” Geography, vol. 17, no. 3, 1932, pp. 216–218. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40558338.
Update August 2019 - from Brotton's book.
Mackinder is also mentioned in "A History of the World in Twelve Maps" by Jerry Brotton (Penguin, 2012)
There is a chapter called 'Geopolitics' which mentions him, and also Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, who was also President, at a time when they were linked with the RGS. Brotton says that Mackinder "would almost single-handedly both transform the study of geography in England, and create a whole new way of understanding and using the subject: geopolitics".
Brotton says that Mackinder recalled, at the age of 82, hearing news about Napoleon III. He was also caned at school "for drawing maps instead of writing Latin prose". His boyhood games apparently included "being King of an island on which 'civilised its usually backward inhabitants'."
He became the President of the Oxford Union in 1883.
Brotton describes the travels in 1886-7 when Mackinder lectured on his "New Geography" apparently with the aim of 'gradually familiarising intelligent people throughout the country with the idea that geography consisted neither of lists of names nor of traveller's tales".
He also added some detail on Mackinder's lecture on Geography at the RGS in 1887 when he presented his ideas. He said 'a worthy Admiral, a member of Council, sat in the front row and kept muttering "Damn cheek" throughout the lecture, particularly when Mackinder suggested the RGS might close as tales of adventure grew fewer.
He concluded by saying, that geography might represent a study of the classics as "the common element in the culture of all men, a ground on which specialists could meet".
Sir Francis Galton, a council member was not sure about Mackinder's claim that geography was a science.
Mackinder's 'Presidential address' to the GA in 1895 according to Brotton, which is impossible of course, as he wasn't President.
It was called 'Modern Geography, German and English", explaining how our maps were ahead of the German, but with von Humboldt and Ritter, we were behind the Germans in other respects.
For Mackinder, "a map was not the territory it claimed to depict, but an interpretation of the geological, biological and anthropological elements which made up that territory".
When he climbed Mt. Kenya in 1899, he was invited by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich to speak at the RGS.
Pivot of history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History
Image from the 1940s
Another of Mackinder's contributions was a slogan:
Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland
Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island
Who rules the World Island commands the World
Updated August 18th 2019
A BBC Radio 4 programme from today.
What can the ideas of two long-dead geopolitical thinkers tell us about relations between Russia, China and America today?
Documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces how, in the late 19th century, an American sea captain turned scholar, Alfred Thayer Mahan, drew on the historic successes of Britain’s Royal Navy to argue that sea power was a decisive force in world history, and that the rising United States should establish its own permanent naval forces.
But then a British geographer, Sir Halford Mackinder, spotted the revolutionary potential of the new Trans-Siberian Railway, and argued that land power, in the form of the Eurasian Heartland could now mobilise its resources to outdo British sea power.
Both men’s ideas have had profound influence on geopolitical thinking ever since. Today, as the post-war international order falters, Phil talks to leading scholars and strategists to discern what influence Mahan’s and Mackinder’s ideas are having on our new era of great power rivalry – between NATO and Russia in the Black and Baltic Seas, between Russia and China in the Eurasian heartland as the Belt and Road stretches westward, and between China and the USA, in the hotly-disputed waters of the South China Sea.
And he asks whether, in a globalised world, ends that were once pursued by military means are now being achieved through commerce, but in pursuit of the same hard geopolitical aims.
With contributions from: Professor James R. Holmes, Professor Charles Kupchan, Dr Nick Megoran, Professor Rana Mitter, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Professor Angela Stent, Dr Dmitri Trenin
October 2019
A contribution in Darby's recollections of the period.
Darby, H. C. “Academic Geography in Britain: 1918-1946.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 8, no. 1, 1983, pp. 14–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/622271.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UI7020CCNsoC&lpg=PA7&ots=NHbnZgpoRx&dq=the%20british%20isles%20ogilvie%201928&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false
the development of the REGION as a concept
Update: December 2019
https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/2966 - a reference in a journal by Hugh Clout
Updated January 2021
Within the context of the current Black Lives Matter movement and the emergence of the Black Geographers group, the GA is reassessing previous connections and involved with moves to decolonise the curriculum.
An article in 'Geography' by Gerry Kearns in Spring 2021 edition explores Mackinder's role in this, and some of his actions which were racist:
It can be read here by subscribers:
It was the 2nd article in a series.
To find out more about the series, check out the Uncomfortable Oxford webpage which describes a lecture that Kearns gave in Oxford, in what was called the Halford Mackinder Lecture Theatre.
Description:
The first in Oxford Geography's 'All School Seminar Series' tackled the uncomfortable history of the School's founder, Halford Mackinder. Halford Mackinder, practised Geography as an 'aid to statecraft.' Statecraft required the geographical knowledge and geographical claims that came from the tradition of Exploration. However, the institutionalisation of Geography as a subject in universities and schools gave it a more modern purpose. In large part this was an educational mission, evangelising British people to think 'imperially'. And this bequeaths us a troubling legacy. It is a legacy of force and racism; and we need to be honest about this.
Updated May 2021
Readers of Tim Marshall's 'Prisoners of Geography' will know that Halford MacKinder is mentioned several times. Having read a good chunk of the new book 'The Power of Geography' which came out a week or so ago, I can confirm that MacKinder is mentioned once again...
Updated January 2022
This thread appeared in my feed earlier.
One hundred years ago today, the British Empire adjusted to an insurgency in Ireland & conceded the island of Ireland a form of sovereignty: an Irish Free State with dominion status within the British Empire.
— Gerard Toal (@Toal_CritGeo) January 16, 2022
How did the 'father of geopolitics' react? Short 🧵
Updated July 2022
A search on Twitter will currently bring up a whole range of tweets mentioning Mackinder's Heartland theory because of the situation in the Ukraine and other recent geopolitical events.
Mackinder is also mentioned in an essay on Aberystwyth University's Geography department, which was co-edited by Emrys Bowen and also features H J Fleure.
In 1917-18 it was MacKinder who asked H J Fleure to be the Honorary Secretary of the GA.
Updated August 2023
References to MacKinder and Herbertson and early days of geography in universities.
#Geographer Mackinder’s works are where all current global geopolitical analyses should begin. He grasped geopolitical realities-the centrality of Eurasia, the sea/land power dichotomy, population distribution & importance of economic & social momentumhttps://t.co/cWh4FATZaj
— Steve Brace (@SteveBraceGeog) September 9, 2023
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