Last update August 2023"Anyone who leaves school without geography as part of their education cannot be considered to be fully educated..."
(1926)
Quoted by David Lambert in a conference lecture (see link at the end of the piece)
James Fairgrieve was a geographer, and author, and prior to taking up the Presidency, he had held several roles within the Association and, as so often, his name appears on the minutes of many meetings and gatherings. He was one of the most significant people in the GA's history and development and many of his documents are in the GA Archives.
He is perhaps best known for his books Geography and World Power (1915) and Geography in School (1926), which were popular at the time of publication, although he wrote others.
James was a British geographer, born in 1870, and had a long career as a teacher too, which is good to see in a GA President, and is still relatively rare. He died in the 1950s.
Fairgrieve originally had no formal training in geography, but took part-time courses in geography at the London School of Economics.
These courses were taught by geographer and geopolitician Halford Mackinder (GA President in 1916, and one of the most influential geographers of the early 20th century).
From that point forward, Fairgrieve devoted his life's work to geography (according to his Wikipedia page)
He was appointed a geography master in 1907 at the William Ellis School. He is described as "bubbling with fresh ideas and astonishing energy". He set up a geographical laboratory at the school and also wrote many textbooks. His commitment to pedagogy was equal to that of geography. He was a long way from the 'Capes and Bays' of the day, and looked at active teaching methods, and lots of fieldwork in the local area.
He is quoted as saying: "We must work from the known to the unknown, not like some teachers - work from the unknown the unknowable."
The full quote goes:
From the known to the unknown
From the simple to the complex
From the indefinite to the definite
From the particular to the general
During the First World War, he wrote 'Geography and World Power'.
Fairgrieve was an intellectual disciple of the great British geopolitical thinker Sir Halford Mackinder, and borrowed some of Mackinder’s concepts in formulating his own geopolitical worldview. Fairgrieve factored into his geopolitical analyses topography, location, climate, relative population density, the distribution of energy, the ease or difficulty of movement, and political and social organization.
Geography and World Power traced the impact of geographical conditions on the course of history, beginning with the desert, marsh and steppe lands of Egypt and Mesopotamia; to the near and readily accessible regions of Palestine and Phoenicia; to Greece, Carthage, and Rome; to the forest lands of Germany and Russia; to the great plain of Eurasia from which nomadic tribes invaded the settled peoples of Europe; to the lands of Arabia from which Mohammedans attempted to convert the known world to Islam; to the age of exploration and the discovery of the New World; to the African grasslands; to the Monsoon lands of China and India.
In 1918, he wrote a piece against environmental determinism called 'Geographical Control'.
He was also a predecessor of former GA Chief Executive David Lambert at the Institute of Education.
As with many other geographers who became President, there was a connection with previous Presidents, and the work of the RGS-IBG.
During the late 1920s and through the 30s, James Fairgrieve worked on developing support materials for teachers to help in their use of educational films. I have blogged about this work separately here.
In 1926, he published his main book "Geography in School". It attracted a lot of interest, as did his definition of Geography. It can be downloaded as a PDF from the Archive.org website. It ran to several editions.
"The function of Geography is to train future citizens to imagine accurately the conditions of the great world stage and so help them think sanely about political and social problems in the world around."
His book, and teaching approaches inspired a generation of geography teachers.
Here it is, from the GA collection
Fairgrieve later led a group of voluntary workers who watched a huge range of educational films to look at their potential for classroom use.
He served on the GA's council for several years during the 1940s, including as Chair of the GA Council in 1947.
He was a relatively rare GA President in that he was a teacher for pretty much all of his career, but had retired before taking office.
Fairgrieve was a Geography Master at William Ellis School, joining in 1907, a school which had a remarkable Geography classroom.
KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.
During the First World War, he wrote 'Geography and World Power'.
Fairgrieve was an intellectual disciple of the great British geopolitical thinker Sir Halford Mackinder, and borrowed some of Mackinder’s concepts in formulating his own geopolitical worldview. Fairgrieve factored into his geopolitical analyses topography, location, climate, relative population density, the distribution of energy, the ease or difficulty of movement, and political and social organization.
Geography and World Power traced the impact of geographical conditions on the course of history, beginning with the desert, marsh and steppe lands of Egypt and Mesopotamia; to the near and readily accessible regions of Palestine and Phoenicia; to Greece, Carthage, and Rome; to the forest lands of Germany and Russia; to the great plain of Eurasia from which nomadic tribes invaded the settled peoples of Europe; to the lands of Arabia from which Mohammedans attempted to convert the known world to Islam; to the age of exploration and the discovery of the New World; to the African grasslands; to the Monsoon lands of China and India.
In 1918, he wrote a piece against environmental determinism called 'Geographical Control'.
He was also a predecessor of former GA Chief Executive David Lambert at the Institute of Education.
As with many other geographers who became President, there was a connection with previous Presidents, and the work of the RGS-IBG.
During the late 1920s and through the 30s, James Fairgrieve worked on developing support materials for teachers to help in their use of educational films. I have blogged about this work separately here.
In 1926, he published his main book "Geography in School". It attracted a lot of interest, as did his definition of Geography. It can be downloaded as a PDF from the Archive.org website. It ran to several editions.
"The function of Geography is to train future citizens to imagine accurately the conditions of the great world stage and so help them think sanely about political and social problems in the world around."
His book, and teaching approaches inspired a generation of geography teachers.
Here it is, from the GA collection
Fairgrieve later led a group of voluntary workers who watched a huge range of educational films to look at their potential for classroom use.
He served on the GA's council for several years during the 1940s, including as Chair of the GA Council in 1947.
He was a relatively rare GA President in that he was a teacher for pretty much all of his career, but had retired before taking office.
Fairgrieve was a Geography Master at William Ellis School, joining in 1907, a school which had a remarkable Geography classroom.
I have been given some wonderful images of this classroom by Chris Willey, a Historian of the school - these will feature in a future post.
I also discovered that he was succeeded as a Geography Master by another former GA President: Leonard Brooks, who we will come to in due course, when I shall also share some of the images.
In 1931, he wrote about broadcasting in schools.
Fairgrieve's Presidential Address explored the themes of pedagogy in a way that other previous GA Presidents hadn't really. It was simply called 'Can we teach Geography better?'
Save your money on some of the new teaching books that have emerged and read this address instead.
The first suggestion he has is that we need to let others see us teach and have the chance to see others teach in return.
We also have to spread a love for geography in our subjects or we have failed in our job.
Feed your geographical caterpillars geographical cabbage and they will soon learn to fly.
Remember to move from the known to the unknown, he says. Go from simple to complex. Move from concrete to abstract. There is a place for wonder.
I also discovered that he was succeeded as a Geography Master by another former GA President: Leonard Brooks, who we will come to in due course, when I shall also share some of the images.
In 1931, he wrote about broadcasting in schools.
Fairgrieve's Presidential Address explored the themes of pedagogy in a way that other previous GA Presidents hadn't really. It was simply called 'Can we teach Geography better?'
Save your money on some of the new teaching books that have emerged and read this address instead.
The first suggestion he has is that we need to let others see us teach and have the chance to see others teach in return.
We also have to spread a love for geography in our subjects or we have failed in our job.
Feed your geographical caterpillars geographical cabbage and they will soon learn to fly.
Remember to move from the known to the unknown, he says. Go from simple to complex. Move from concrete to abstract. There is a place for wonder.
Fairgrieve travelled to Scandinavia on an Orient Line ship in the 1920s and contributed a large number of lantern slides of images from that trip into the GA's collection.
Read about 'Geography and World Power'
This is a very enjoyable address and worth reading.
Fairgrieve continued to attend GA meetings for another 20 years after his Presidency, according to Rex Walford, "able to attend meetings only with the help, successively, of sticks, wheelchair and basket bed".
Quite a commitment to the Association indeed!
Fairgrieve died in 1953, active to the very last within the GA.
References
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fairgrieve
I amended this entry to add reference to the GA Presidency role, as I have for all Presidents when that information was missing.
FAIRGRIEVE, J. “GEOGRAPHIC CONTROL.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 4, 1918, pp. 189–192. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554568.
Mentioned in: https://www.geography.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Journals/Boardman_McPartland_Building_on_the_foundations.pdf
Fairgrieve, J. “USE OF BROADCASTING IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY IN SCHOOLS.” Geography, vol. 16, no. 1, 1931, pp. 34–44. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557798.
Fairgrieve commented on by David Lambert in a lecture here. (from 2015)
https://thediplomat.com/2015/04/geography-and-world-power-at-100/ - Geography and World Power
Also had a section in Rex Walford's book p.97-9
Fairgrieve, J. “CLOUD AND RAIN.” Geography, vol. 27, no. 1, 1942, pp. 31–33. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562174.
Boardman, David, and Michael McPartland. “A Hundred Years of Geography Teaching: Building on the Foundations: 1893—1943.” Teaching Geography, vol. 18, no. 1, 1993, pp. 3–6. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23754476.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/631169/mod_resource/content/1/geog_sk6_06t_5.pdf - an interesting perspective by Bill Marsden
FAIRGRIEVE, J. “CAN WE TEACH GEOGRAPHY BETTER?” Geography, vol. 21, no. 1, 1936, pp. 1–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40559408.
As always, if anyone has further information relating to James Fairgrieve and his work for the GA, please let me know so that I can expand on this post.
Update
Here's an image of a contemporary Geography classroom from Fairgrieve's book, reproduced in Rex Walford's 'Geography in British Schools 1850-2000'
Update - late October
Here's a silent educational film from 1925 - of a village in the Punjab
Made by British Instructional Films Ltd of Surbiton Surrey and apparently approved by James Fairgrieve and the Geographical Association.
Can be viewed here...
And here's one of a Mediterranean island...
Fairgrieve died in 1953, active to the very last within the GA.
References
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fairgrieve
I amended this entry to add reference to the GA Presidency role, as I have for all Presidents when that information was missing.
FAIRGRIEVE, J. “GEOGRAPHIC CONTROL.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 9, no. 4, 1918, pp. 189–192. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40554568.
Mentioned in: https://www.geography.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Journals/Boardman_McPartland_Building_on_the_foundations.pdf
Fairgrieve, J. “USE OF BROADCASTING IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY IN SCHOOLS.” Geography, vol. 16, no. 1, 1931, pp. 34–44. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40557798.
Fairgrieve commented on by David Lambert in a lecture here. (from 2015)
https://thediplomat.com/2015/04/geography-and-world-power-at-100/ - Geography and World Power
Also had a section in Rex Walford's book p.97-9
Fairgrieve, J. “CLOUD AND RAIN.” Geography, vol. 27, no. 1, 1942, pp. 31–33. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562174.
Boardman, David, and Michael McPartland. “A Hundred Years of Geography Teaching: Building on the Foundations: 1893—1943.” Teaching Geography, vol. 18, no. 1, 1993, pp. 3–6. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23754476.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/631169/mod_resource/content/1/geog_sk6_06t_5.pdf - an interesting perspective by Bill Marsden
FAIRGRIEVE, J. “CAN WE TEACH GEOGRAPHY BETTER?” Geography, vol. 21, no. 1, 1936, pp. 1–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40559408.
As always, if anyone has further information relating to James Fairgrieve and his work for the GA, please let me know so that I can expand on this post.
Update
Here's an image of a contemporary Geography classroom from Fairgrieve's book, reproduced in Rex Walford's 'Geography in British Schools 1850-2000'
Update - late October
Here's a silent educational film from 1925 - of a village in the Punjab
Made by British Instructional Films Ltd of Surbiton Surrey and apparently approved by James Fairgrieve and the Geographical Association.
Can be viewed here...
And here's one of a Mediterranean island...
Updated January 2021
Fairgrieve also featured in the Presidential Address of the 1996 President Ashley Kent, where he outlined his life and also the strong connections between the IoE and the GA. It is well worth reading to get an idea for the links and the changing nature of Geography. Ashley's Presidential Address was given at the Institute of Education.
He provides additional detail on Fairgrieve's life.
"A central figure in the long struggle for the subject to which he gave a life of enthusiastic work"
H. J. Fleure (1953)
Updated April 2021
Fairgrieve seems to have spent 1921 out of the country according to this piece in 'The Geographical Teacher'
Updated June 2021
Aberystwyth University has a Prize named after James Fairgrieve.
Updated August 2021
I have been exploring some of Fairgrieve's lantern slides over the last month for a project called 'A Geographer's Gaze'
Updated July 2022
A remarkable piece of film from the 1930s.
Filmed by Scottish geographer James Fairgrieve
— Ali Asghar Khan (@AliAsgharPTI) February 3, 2019
Scenes from Abbottabad, St. Luke's Church etc. https://t.co/iGRE9KSe82
Updated August 2023
Neville Scarfe's influences included James Fairgrieve, who he described as
"a down to earth geographer bent on assisting students to imagine world characteristics accurately, the better to imagine political and social problems"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting on the blog, particularly if you are letting me know more about a particular Past President. I'll be in touch shortly as I will shortly be notified of your comment by e-mail.