1933: Professor Percy Maude Roxby

Last updated August 2023

Percy Maude Roxby was  an academic geographer connected with the University of Liverpool, and an expert on the geography of China.

He was born in 1880, and educated in History at Oxford University, but was appointed as lecturer in Regional Geography at the University of Liverpool in 1906.

He was one of the many people who were influenced by, and responded to, the work and teachings of A. J. Herbertson, who has featured previously on the blog.

He wrote a paper called "What is a natural region" in response to Herbertson's work and set out ideas for organising how geography could be taught in secondary schools. This connection with school geography has been an important part of many GA President's roles and legacies, and Roxby was particularly important in this regard.

He was also involved with the GA for a considerable period of time before being President, and so became one of the group of GA Presidents who were being 'rewarded' for their service to the Association during this period in its history.

The honours school of Geography at the University was formally approved in 1917-18, when Percy Maude Roxby was appointed as the first named chair of Geography in the British Isles.

Roxby visited China several times and wrote a book on the country as well, at a time when relatively little was known about the country. This is one of his great contributions to the work of the GA.

He traveled extensively in China, and both studied and wrote about Chinese geography. This was his particular passion.
Meanwhile, he promoted mutual understanding between China and Britain through geography. He also supervised the Department of Geography at Liverpool University and trained Chinese geographers. 
Overall, Percy Maude Roxby played a significant role in Chinese geography including his own research, the internationalization of Chinese geography, and cultivation of Chinese scholars, all of which should be included in the history of modern Chinese geography.
This becomes even more significant now, given the growing power of China on the world stage.

He wrote a whole series of articles for GA journals. His Presidential Address was on the theme of China as an Entity, compared with Europe, as one would have expected.

Roxby died in 1947, and a prize in his name was introduced at the University of Liverpool after his death. This was to pay for a geographer to travel - something Roxby was a big promoter of.

His name was also connected with another, later President, who will have his own entry in due course.

Dick Lawton was inspired by lectures from Roxby to pursue his own geographical career at the University of Liverpool and become involved with the GA in due course.

He was also mentioned by another GA President, Roger Carter in his Presidential address:

"I came across the details of the Staffordshire Geographical Exhibition of 1934. The Exhibition gave rise to an account, edited by Jasper H. Stembridge. Here is an extract from Stembridge's account:

 'The Staffordshire Geographical Exhibition proved that the popular press and the general public are deeply interested in education. On the second day the Exhibition was thronged. On the third and subsequent days it was so crowded in the afternoons and evenings that it was often difficult to make one's way round the rooms. Owing to requests received from all parts of the country it was decided to keep it open for a further three days' (Stembridge, 1934, p. 12). 

 The then President of the GA, Professor PM. Roxby, was equally enthusiastic about the event: 

'Here was the new geography - pulsating with life - presented with a freshness of outlook, but with a deep conviction of the importance of the subject and its underlying principles' (Roxby quoted in Stembridge, 1934, p. 13).

References

No Wikipedia entry exists. Perhaps one needs to be written.

There is an archive of his lectures and notes held at the University of Liverpool.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F58505
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/geography-and-planning/about/
https://www.nature.com/articles/159462a0
Lei ZHANG. Percy Maude Roxby and Chinese geography[J].Acta Geographica Sinica, 2015, 70(10): 1686-1693.

Available in Chinese it seems... anyone able to translate?

In May 2017, his centenary was announced in a Tweet from the Liverpool University account, including his portrait.

100 years ago today Percy Maude Roxby became the John Rankin Chair of Geography at @livuninews @livunigeog @livuniplanning @RGS_IBG #mayday pic.twitter.com/qqcb04pQTr

— livunigeog (@livunigeog) May 15, 2017

Roxby, Percy Maude. “CHINA AS AN ENTITY: THE COMPARISON WITH EUROPE. ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” Geography, vol. 19, no. 1, 1934, pp. 1–20. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40558758.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40563887?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents - details of Roxby Prize

Liverpool University Facebook page: https://d.facebook.com/livunigeog/photos/a.579114048787869/1640924519273478/?type=3&__tn__=EH-R

A prize winning essay from 1902 while studying at Christchurch, Oxford: https://archive.org/details/henrygrattanbein00roxb/page/n10

As always, if anyone knows anything more about Percy Maude Roxby, or has a contribution to make to the blog, please get in touch... 

Major update October 2019
Quite a lot of additional detail on Roxby and his work is included in an article by Professor H C Darby, who was also a Professor at Liverpool University. He talks first about the time following the First World War.



I like the idea of Roxby's long cycling tours, particularly in East Anglia and like to think that I have travelled along the same routes as Roxby. He wrote a chapter in a volume on Great Britain.
When searching for this book, I found this biographical reference in another book.



This told me the book was called 'Great Britain' and edited by A. Ogilvie (1928) and that he also contributed chapters to other publications. such as 'The Geographer's Craft'.

H C Darby then talked about the time when he succeeded Roxby at Liverpool University.



I also found an obituary of Roxby, which I hadn't found previously, written by H J Fleure.


References
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://archive.org/details/henrygrattanbein00roxb/page/n10 - prize-winning essay

https://archive.org/details/chinaproper0002grea/page/n425 - China manual for naval intelligence - showing his great knowledge of the city

Crone, G. R. “British Geography in the Twentieth Century.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 130, no. 2, 1964, pp. 197–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1794582.

Fleure, H. J. “OBITUARY: PROFESSOR P. M. ROXBY.” Geography, vol. 32, no. 1, 1947, pp. 36–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562545.

CARTER, ROGER. “Connecting Geography: An Agenda for Action.” Geography, vol. 84, no. 4, 1999, pp. 289–297. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573334. Accessed 22 Nov. 2020.

Update: December 2020

In 2003, Chris Kington asked a number of former Presidents what had sparked their passion for geography. 

He lent me the letters and Dick Lawton mentioned the influence of Roxby and other geographers including Clifford Darby and Bill Mead on his own academic career at the time.

He says they taught him not only about geography, but how to be a geographer...

Upated July 2022

Roxby contributed to some guides to China written for military intelligence, found on the Internet Archive. Another wartime contribution by a former GA President.

Updated August 2023

As with many Geographers, Roxby was involved with the British Association's Section E committee meetings. He became the President in the 1930s and spoke about his work. He had many interests aside of his trips to China.

Finally found his Biogeographical volume description:

On his links with the GA it has this to say: