This was very much the initiative of Pat Cleverley and Sheila Jones, and the beginnning of the GA Shop and other items being sold.
Monday, 31 August 2020
Sunday, 30 August 2020
Thought for the Day
"Geography teaches an appreciation and
understanding of the landscape around us and of those landscapes beyond our personal experience. It teaches both a knowledge and a sense of place, the basic knowledge of the theatre
of the world on which mankind acts out its days. It teaches the dimensions of reality and, far
more important, the concerns which underlie the character and the quality of our continuing
existence. It is a subject, above all, of both head and heart. With rigour and precision of
technique and concept we seek to measure, to describe and understand the mechanisms which
dictate the shifting patterns of the occupance of earth. But earth is home, shot through with
beauty and with squalor, opportunity and despair. We cannot be detached from home: our
attempted understanding of its face is quickened by our wonder in its delights and our concern
for its condition: in wonder and in concern, as much as in understanding, is the mark of
relevance in geography."
J Allan Patmore
Patmore, J. (1980). Geography and Relevance. Geography, 65(4), 265-283. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40570301
Saturday, 29 August 2020
1978: Fieldtrips
I wonder whether anyone remembers staying here... or claimed the special rates.The hotel is still in business it seems and nicely located...
Back Matter. (1978). Geography, 63(3). Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568995
Friday, 28 August 2020
Thought for the Day
Of the geographer....
"We shall expect him to cultivate the power of the eye till he has
a true eye for country - a seeing eye; an eye that can see into the very heart and, through all the
thronging details, single out the one essential quality; an eye which can not only observe but can
make discoveries."
Sir Francis Younghusband, 1920
Thursday, 27 August 2020
Thought for the Day
"... I am not, I suspect, wrong in thinking that, in our preoccupation with strict empirical
thought and method, we have shortchanged several generations of students by giving them
the model rather than the reality ....
Let us welcome anything which will increase their
opportunity to wonder, and to weep, over the world of man."
John Paterson, 1979
PATERSON, J. (1979). Some Dimensions of Geography. Geography, 64(4), 268-278. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569982
1977: Green Paper on Education
Some interesting things to consider here: the instrumental aims of schools according to the 1977 Green Paper.... One of many such documents the GA has responded to over the years as part of its policy work.
From Norman Graves paper...
Reference
GRAVES, N. (1979). Contrasts and Contradictions in Geographical Education. Geography, 64(4), 259-267. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569981
From Norman Graves paper...
Reference
GRAVES, N. (1979). Contrasts and Contradictions in Geographical Education. Geography, 64(4), 259-267. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569981
Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
1977: Professor Stan Gregory
Updated August 2023
A leading climatologist, Professor Gregory had a particular interest in the study of rainfall in subtropical and tropical regions and related issues of water resources. Yet he was probably better known as a leader of the “quantitative revolution” in geography.
To influence researchers and universities, he co-founded the Study Group on Quantitative Methods within the Institute of British Geographers. To make a similar impact in schools, he persuaded the Geographical Association to set up a Committee on Models and Quantitative Techniques in Teaching, and he became its first chair. He also promoted the “revolution” though a landmark 1963 textbook.
In a eulogy at Professor Gregory’s funeral, Ron Johnston, former vice-chancellor of the University of Essex, recalled Professor Gregory as “a major agent for change in how geography was practised here in the UK” who was also a highly effective university administrator.
Update: December 2020
“a major agent for change in how geography is practised here in the UK..."
From the eulogy at Professor Gregory's funeral by Ron Johnston, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex
Stan Gregory was Professor of Geography at the University of Sheffield, and also active at other universities.
Professor Gregory's address was on 'The Role of Physical Geography', and his work in the area of climate change was an area he will also be remembered for.
From the Obituary page of the University of Sheffield:
Stan Gregory was born in London in 1926 and educated at the Polytechnic Secondary School on Regent Street. He acquired his initial knowledge of meteorology while serving in the Navy towards the end of the Second World War. He then obtained a first in geography at King's College London (1950), followed by an MA (1951) and a PhD (1952) at the University of Liverpool while working as an assistant lecturer.
Working at Liverpool until 1968, Professor Gregory later moved to the University of Sheffield, where he remained until retirement, as Professor of Geography (1968-88). He served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (1978-80) and a Pro Vice-Chancellor (1980-84), as well as taking visiting posts in Australia, Canada, India, Eastern Europe, Jamaica and a number of African countries.
A leading climatologist, Professor Gregory had a particular interest in the study of rainfall in subtropical and tropical regions and related issues of water resources. Yet he was probably better known as a leader of the "quantitative revolution" in geography.
He was linked with the IBG, which later merged with the RGS.
To influence researchers and universities, he co-founded the Study Group on Quantitative Methods within the Institute of British Geographers.
To make a similar impact in schools, he persuaded the Geographical Association to set up a Committee on Models and Quantitative Techniques in Teaching, and he became its first chair.
He also promoted the "revolution" though a landmark 1963 textbook.
“Few textbooks have changed the practice of geography,” said Sir Paul Curran, the Vice-Chancellor of City University London, “but Stan's ‘Statistical Methods and the Geographer’ was one of them.
Stan was an early advocate for the use of the statistical method, and later technology. He was asked to chair an important GA committee at a time of tension.
Source: Ron Johnston Bibliogeography piece - sample on Google Books:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kVtwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA90&ots=AHT4_XIJ21&dq=Geographical%20ASsociation%20Package%20Exchange&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q=Geographical%20ASsociation%20Package%20Exchange&f=false
He worked with the JMB examining board
He received the Murchison Award from the RGS, and a medal named after Hugh Robert Mill (another former GA President) awarded by the Royal Meteorological Society.
I like this mention of him too:
Might be something to introduce to the GA conference.
Stan was made an Honorary Member of the GA (one of the highest honours of the Association) in 1991.
Since I wrote this original piece back in August 2019, a couple of significant new resources appeared.
There was an excellent description of Stan's life in the University of Sheffield's Facebook area.
Included an image of him teaching.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/university-of-sheffield-alumni/the-story-of-stan-gregory/10155934590756548/
References
Gregory, S. “The Role of Physical Geography in the Curriculum.” Geography, vol. 63, no. 4, 1978, pp. 251–264. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568997
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/news/stan_gregory-1.573272\
Image source: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni/our_alumni/obituary-archive/stan-gregory-obituary
https://www.facebook.com/notes/university-of-sheffield-alumni/the-story-of-stan-gregory/10155934590756548/ - the story of Stan Gregory
Bibliographical Studies mention: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E-xwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA93&ots=yyywauK3MP&dq=stan%20gregory%20sheffield&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q=stan%20gregory%20sheffield&f=false
Please pass on any further memories of Stan Gregory if you have them.
Updated August 26th 2020
Thanks to Norman Graves (who will feature in the next Presidential post) for sending me some memories of Stan:
"Stan Gregory’s contribution to the Association’s development was exceptional. In addition to being its President in 1977/78 he also served terms as Hon Secretary and Trustee (twice). From his appointment as Secretary in 1968 to his final year as Trustee in 1990 that added up to a total of fifteen years contributing to the Association in those key voluntary roles.
Alice Garnett having negotiated the move of GA HQ from Manchester to Sheffield it was Stan Gregory who followed her by maintaining the GA’s links with the Geography Department of Sheffield University. Colleagues of his, including Bryan Coates and Malcolm Lewis, would also serve terms as officers of the Association. The debt which the Association owes to Sheffield’s Geography Department can best be summed up by pointing out that in every year from 1950 until 1992 at least one of the GA’s honorary officers was a member of Sheffield University's Geography Department’s academic staff.
My own memories of involvement in the Association’s activities are coloured by my first encounters with Stan. I had completed a degree at sleepy Oxford while the subject was changing rapidly elsewhere, not least at Cambridge.
From the eulogy at Professor Gregory's funeral by Ron Johnston, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex
Stan Gregory was Professor of Geography at the University of Sheffield, and also active at other universities.
From the Obituary page of the University of Sheffield:
Stan Gregory was born in London in 1926 and educated at the Polytechnic Secondary School on Regent Street. He acquired his initial knowledge of meteorology while serving in the Navy towards the end of the Second World War. He then obtained a first in geography at King's College London (1950), followed by an MA (1951) and a PhD (1952) at the University of Liverpool while working as an assistant lecturer.
Working at Liverpool until 1968, Professor Gregory later moved to the University of Sheffield, where he remained until retirement, as Professor of Geography (1968-88). He served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (1978-80) and a Pro Vice-Chancellor (1980-84), as well as taking visiting posts in Australia, Canada, India, Eastern Europe, Jamaica and a number of African countries.
A leading climatologist, Professor Gregory had a particular interest in the study of rainfall in subtropical and tropical regions and related issues of water resources. Yet he was probably better known as a leader of the "quantitative revolution" in geography.
He was linked with the IBG, which later merged with the RGS.
To influence researchers and universities, he co-founded the Study Group on Quantitative Methods within the Institute of British Geographers.
To make a similar impact in schools, he persuaded the Geographical Association to set up a Committee on Models and Quantitative Techniques in Teaching, and he became its first chair.
He also promoted the "revolution" though a landmark 1963 textbook.
“Few textbooks have changed the practice of geography,” said Sir Paul Curran, the Vice-Chancellor of City University London, “but Stan's ‘Statistical Methods and the Geographer’ was one of them.
A keen and intrepid traveller, Stan saw many features of the globe: some of the highest mountains, longest rivers, mightiest water falls, biggest and deepest lakes, and largest deserts. (a statement taken from the obituary)
Stan's GA Conference theme, and his lecture were both on the theme of Physical Geography.
Gregory, S. (1978). The Role of Physical Geography in the Curriculum. Geography, 63(4), 251-264. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568997
Stan's GA Conference theme, and his lecture were both on the theme of Physical Geography.
Gregory, S. (1978). The Role of Physical Geography in the Curriculum. Geography, 63(4), 251-264. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568997
Stan was an early advocate for the use of the statistical method, and later technology. He was asked to chair an important GA committee at a time of tension.
Source: Ron Johnston Bibliogeography piece - sample on Google Books:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kVtwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA90&ots=AHT4_XIJ21&dq=Geographical%20ASsociation%20Package%20Exchange&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q=Geographical%20ASsociation%20Package%20Exchange&f=false
He worked with the JMB examining board
He received the Murchison Award from the RGS, and a medal named after Hugh Robert Mill (another former GA President) awarded by the Royal Meteorological Society.
I like this mention of him too:
Might be something to introduce to the GA conference.
Stan was made an Honorary Member of the GA (one of the highest honours of the Association) in 1991.
Since I wrote this original piece back in August 2019, a couple of significant new resources appeared.
There was an excellent description of Stan's life in the University of Sheffield's Facebook area.
Included an image of him teaching.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/university-of-sheffield-alumni/the-story-of-stan-gregory/10155934590756548/
Stan sadly died in 2016.
He left some money to the University which funds postgraduate students.
References
Gregory, S. “The Role of Physical Geography in the Curriculum.” Geography, vol. 63, no. 4, 1978, pp. 251–264. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568997
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/news/stan_gregory-1.573272\
Image source: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni/our_alumni/obituary-archive/stan-gregory-obituary
https://www.facebook.com/notes/university-of-sheffield-alumni/the-story-of-stan-gregory/10155934590756548/ - the story of Stan Gregory
Bibliographical Studies mention: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E-xwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA93&ots=yyywauK3MP&dq=stan%20gregory%20sheffield&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q=stan%20gregory%20sheffield&f=false
Please pass on any further memories of Stan Gregory if you have them.
Updated August 26th 2020
Thanks to Norman Graves (who will feature in the next Presidential post) for sending me some memories of Stan:
"Stan Gregory and I were students in the Joint School of Geography which was then shared by Kings College and the LSE, though he did a straight Geography degree while I did a BSc (Econ) which actually included a course in statistics which proved useful during the quantitative revolution.
Our paths crossed again in Liverpool when I joined the Education Department, while he was in the Geography Department headed by Professor Steele at that time."
Updated October 12th 2020
Many thanks also to Richard Daugherty for sending me his own memories of Stan Gregory:
Alice Garnett having negotiated the move of GA HQ from Manchester to Sheffield it was Stan Gregory who followed her by maintaining the GA’s links with the Geography Department of Sheffield University. Colleagues of his, including Bryan Coates and Malcolm Lewis, would also serve terms as officers of the Association. The debt which the Association owes to Sheffield’s Geography Department can best be summed up by pointing out that in every year from 1950 until 1992 at least one of the GA’s honorary officers was a member of Sheffield University's Geography Department’s academic staff.
My own memories of involvement in the Association’s activities are coloured by my first encounters with Stan. I had completed a degree at sleepy Oxford while the subject was changing rapidly elsewhere, not least at Cambridge.
The 1960s ‘new geography’ had therefore passed me by as an undergraduate. A GA weekend course in Sheffield, led by Stan Gregory, during my first year in school teaching offered a chance to find out more.
Stimulated by what I had learned there I wrote to the GA asking to be kept in touch with the work of its newly formed committee, chaired by Stan Gregory, on ‘models and quantitative techniques in geography teaching’. Much to my surprise I received a letter back from Stan inviting me to become a committee member. It was a measure of Stan’s skills with people that, though I was initially overawed by the ideas and energy of committee colleagues like Rex Walford, he soon made me feel that I had a contribution to make."
Stimulated by what I had learned there I wrote to the GA asking to be kept in touch with the work of its newly formed committee, chaired by Stan Gregory, on ‘models and quantitative techniques in geography teaching’. Much to my surprise I received a letter back from Stan inviting me to become a committee member. It was a measure of Stan’s skills with people that, though I was initially overawed by the ideas and energy of committee colleagues like Rex Walford, he soon made me feel that I had a contribution to make."
Update November 2020
Obituary in the Times Higher Education Supplement
A geographer who radically reformed the discipline has died
A leading climatologist, Professor Gregory had a particular interest in the study of rainfall in subtropical and tropical regions and related issues of water resources. Yet he was probably better known as a leader of the “quantitative revolution” in geography.
To influence researchers and universities, he co-founded the Study Group on Quantitative Methods within the Institute of British Geographers. To make a similar impact in schools, he persuaded the Geographical Association to set up a Committee on Models and Quantitative Techniques in Teaching, and he became its first chair. He also promoted the “revolution” though a landmark 1963 textbook.
His “quiet tact and great patience in negotiations” had proved great assets during a period of student unrest while he was pro vice-chancellor.
A keen and intrepid traveller, Professor Gregory recently celebrated his 90th birthday by visiting the site of the Palace of the Queen of Sheba in Oman. He died after a stroke on 8 April and is survived by his wife Helga, two daughters from an earlier marriage and three grandsons.
A keen and intrepid traveller, Professor Gregory recently celebrated his 90th birthday by visiting the site of the Palace of the Queen of Sheba in Oman. He died after a stroke on 8 April and is survived by his wife Helga, two daughters from an earlier marriage and three grandsons.
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 Stan had sent a reply.
In it, he talks about being evacuated from London in the 1930s. He had been attending the Polytechnic Secondary School in the Polytechnic, Regent Street in London. At the time his total experience had been Central London, but he was then evacuated to Minehead in Somerset at the age of 13. He was a keen walker and remembers a walk over North Hull overlooking the town.
He says:
"The autumn colours of the trees, the bracken, the heather and beyond that the blue of the sea all wrapping around the town and the neighbouring fields and marshes. I suddenly realised that the world was a wonderful place!"
Many thanks to Chris Kington for the loan of the letters.
Updated August 2023
@CanCommSchols alumnus Stan Gregory (1926-2016) held a Commonwealth Fellowship at @uOttawa in 1969. He was one of the major influencers in changing British geography teaching. He spent much of his career at the @sheffielduni . https://t.co/CvZt7gQuwY
— Canada CommSchols (@CanCommSchols) November 24, 2020
Young & Lowry hah! Staple text for O level & early GCSE Geography. Stan Gregory (stars for geography) was my viva interrogator at Sheffield university. Wonderful, self-deprecating man. I've had most of the others too. Thanks for the memory!
— Geoff Nelder - writing, reading & colouring in (@geoffnelder) April 24, 2020
Some lovely family photos on there.
An interview with Peter Batey who was influenced by Stan.
A detailed piece by Ron Johnston in Biogeographical Studies.
He references Robert Ogilvie Buchanan (another former GA President) as one of the better lecturers he had.
Stanley Beaver (another former GA President) also said that Stan Gregory was one of his best students - lots of connections like this have emerged over the years I've been working on this.
He also won the Hugh Robert Mill award (another former GA President)
Saturday, 22 August 2020
Friday, 21 August 2020
1977: a new Constitution
There are many elements to the structure of the organisation. These include the by-laws and the articles of association, governing body, as well as the terms by which committees operate. There is also a strategy document which guides thinking.
I have been involved in exploring these over the last year.
The constitution was a guiding document for some time, and any changes to this were a lengthy process.
In 1977, a new Constitution was approved at the AGM on the 6th of April.
It envisaged a governing Council with three standing committees: Education, Publications and Communications and Finance and General Purposes.
These were supported by Section Committees (I served on the Secondary version for many years).
There were 2 officers posts: Honorary Treasurer and 2 Honorary Secretaries.
The President was required to serve four years - two before and one after the Presidential year.
This model stayed until the present Junior Vice President, who will be the last to serve this model as it has not moved to a three year 'term of office' due to the appointment of a new Chair of Trustees.
One of the major changes was to put a period of time on the work of the officers, limiting it to 6 years.
This put an end to the previous situation where some individuals served for many decades, in some cases for most of their lives. This would now only be possible by changing Office. The Founders racked up over 50 years in some cases. This change was hotly debated at the time. The compulsory retirement of effective Officers was not agreed with by all. It was seen as a sign of the Association's strength and also ensured a lack of stagnation, and also saw a sign towards the Association being run by the active teacher membership to a greater extent.
More to come in tomorrow's post...
I have been involved in exploring these over the last year.
The constitution was a guiding document for some time, and any changes to this were a lengthy process.
In 1977, a new Constitution was approved at the AGM on the 6th of April.
It envisaged a governing Council with three standing committees: Education, Publications and Communications and Finance and General Purposes.
These were supported by Section Committees (I served on the Secondary version for many years).
There were 2 officers posts: Honorary Treasurer and 2 Honorary Secretaries.
The President was required to serve four years - two before and one after the Presidential year.
This model stayed until the present Junior Vice President, who will be the last to serve this model as it has not moved to a three year 'term of office' due to the appointment of a new Chair of Trustees.
One of the major changes was to put a period of time on the work of the officers, limiting it to 6 years.
This put an end to the previous situation where some individuals served for many decades, in some cases for most of their lives. This would now only be possible by changing Office. The Founders racked up over 50 years in some cases. This change was hotly debated at the time. The compulsory retirement of effective Officers was not agreed with by all. It was seen as a sign of the Association's strength and also ensured a lack of stagnation, and also saw a sign towards the Association being run by the active teacher membership to a greater extent.
More to come in tomorrow's post...
Thursday, 20 August 2020
1976: Professor Michael John Wise
Last updated July 2024Michael Wise was 58 when he became the GA President, and working at the University of Birmingham. He is one of the most interesting and influential of all the GA's former Presidents, and has had one of the biggest impacts on geography with his varied connections and outputs.
He was born in 1918, and was brought up in Birmingham, and later linked with the University of Birmingham during his career.
He went to school with L J Jay (Leslie Jay), who worked as the Honorary Librarian of the GA from 1954 to 1973 (see previous post)
Here is a paragraph from the appreciation of L J Jay that Michael wrote following Jay's death in 1986.
In it, he describes the influence of the geography teacher they both had while they were at the same school as pupils.
From a piece he wrote about the work of the GA. (PDF download)
This is always worth remembering: the improving power of taking part in the community of practice that is the GA.
Michael was Programme Secretary to the IGC and was one of the IGU Presidents as well - this international work is important, and is continuing to this day. David Lambert certainly led a great deal of international work within the GA, and Alan Kinder and Becky Kitchen continue to work in other countries to develop their curricula, as well as another former President Margaret Roberts who has worked extensively in Singapore to develop their school geography.
Michael served on various Government commissions and committees (which would have contributed to the Policy work of the GA, something that continues to this day at that level). The connection with policy work is something that I have got increasingly involved in during the first year on the GA's Presidents Group as it is currently called. This has included consultations with OFQUAL, who are currently not getting particularly good press for their judgement over this year's exam results.
Another image from the LSE Archives.
He was born in 1918, and was brought up in Birmingham, and later linked with the University of Birmingham during his career.
He went to school with L J Jay (Leslie Jay), who worked as the Honorary Librarian of the GA from 1954 to 1973 (see previous post)
Here is a paragraph from the appreciation of L J Jay that Michael wrote following Jay's death in 1986.
In it, he describes the influence of the geography teacher they both had while they were at the same school as pupils.
From a piece he wrote about the work of the GA. (PDF download)
This is always worth remembering: the improving power of taking part in the community of practice that is the GA.
Michael was Programme Secretary to the IGC and was one of the IGU Presidents as well - this international work is important, and is continuing to this day. David Lambert certainly led a great deal of international work within the GA, and Alan Kinder and Becky Kitchen continue to work in other countries to develop their curricula, as well as another former President Margaret Roberts who has worked extensively in Singapore to develop their school geography.
Michael served on various Government commissions and committees (which would have contributed to the Policy work of the GA, something that continues to this day at that level). The connection with policy work is something that I have got increasingly involved in during the first year on the GA's Presidents Group as it is currently called. This has included consultations with OFQUAL, who are currently not getting particularly good press for their judgement over this year's exam results.
Another image from the LSE Archives.
There is a Michael Wise room in the Geography department at LSE. This was renamed some years after his death. Some memories of him here.
One particular contribution Michael made was as a member of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) during the late 70s and early 80s. One of the things that he did while there was to establish a Fellowship. One person who got the fellowship turned out to be Doreen Massey, who became one of the most influential geographers in recent decades, and also a former Honorary Vice President of the GA. (Doreen will have a post on the blog in due course)
His Presidential Address was called 'Geography in Universities and Schools. It tackled the issue that we still talk about today - the possible disconnect between school and university geography. It is worth reading, using the link at the bottom of the post.
He was interviewed in this film here, which provides a little more background to his interests, and makes him another rare President to appear on video until much closer to the present day:
Interview with Professor Michael Wise, Former President of the International Geographical Union, London School of Economics and Political Science. Interviewed by Anne Buttimer.
Michael also served as a member and President of many learned societies and was one of only two UK academics to have been President of all three UK geographical societies - the Royal Geographical Society, the Geographical Association and the Institute of British Geographers - as well as the International Geographical Union.
He received the RGS Gill Memorial award in 1958 and Founder’s Medal in 1977, among many awards, and received the CBE in 1979.
(from the BBC obituary)
At his 90th birthday party, held at the LSE, according to the lengthy Independent obituary:
He read from a primary school essay that he wrote: “My favourite lesson is geography. I will tell you why. It is because it teaches me all about the world and all the things upon it.”
Michael was featured in a volume of Biographical Studies.
He wrote a chapter in a book that I have a copy of called 'Geographical Futures', and this paragraph is taken from that
Michael was mentioned by several former Presidents whom I was able to contact.
For example, Chris Kington very kindly lent me a copy of a journal piece that Michal wrote with his memories around becoming a geographer.
Wise, M. J. (2001). Becoming a geographer around the second world war. Progress in Human Geography, 25(1), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913250102500112
This described some of his early geographical adventures.
I've previously mentioned a quote from this article which describes how he came across a book by H J Fleure.
He recalls being on active service in the Middle East, and the great pleasure he had in Baghdad in 1942 which came from "finding a copy of Fleure's Introduction to Geography (1929) and the poignancy struck at this time by his concluding words: 'the lives of men are bound up with the little bit of earth that is given to each to love, and the student of geography must set himself to understand the links that bind him there, and not only there, but also the very different ones that bind him and his fellow men in all lands' (p.79)
From Johnston and Board's piece: Read this!
Wise was a doughty campaigner for geography throughout the educational system, doing much work behind the scenes, in committees and other fora, as well as publishing papers such as that advocating geography’s role in technical education (1961a) which advanced his wider claim that geographers should (p.348):
"base our arguments not on the side-door entry of geography as a general education for citizenship, and as a background subject but, through the front entrance, on geography as a disciplined, practical study with its own techniques and tools directly applicable to the problems and tasks of the day. … Let us make geography a subject which does things, not merely one which reads about other people doing them."
And he wanted action to ensure that happened.
A few years later, in his presidential address to the GA, he called for it to ‘involve itself more actively than it has done in the recent past in debate on educational matters’ (1977b, 249) in an ‘aggressive defence of our subject and its approaches’ (p.256).
He noted that the discipline was changing rapidly in universities and wanted this recognised in schools, despite their need to cater not just for university entrants but also to ‘many groups of pupils with different ambitions, plans, and values’ (p.233). Steel (1983, 40 and 112) reports in his history of the IBG that Wise facilitated constructive engagement between the RGS and IBG councils in 1981, leading to the establishment of a Council of British Geographers (the two societies merged a decade later), and was instrumental in a far-reaching restructuring of the British National Committee for Geography, the body that, through the Royal Society, was responsible until 1990 for British geography’s links to international bodies such as the International Geographical Union and the International Cartographic Association (Anon. 1970; Geographical Journal 156, 1990, 350).
Larger plans for a Council of British Geography, initiated by the GA, were unsuccessful then, and although a council was established a few years later it has not played a major role, having last met in November 2012 (http://www.cobrig.org.uk/ (accessed 20 May 2016)).
During his RGS presidency Wise was also involved in the discussions that led to the establishment of the Association of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences, later the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences (http://www.the-academy.org.uk/ (accessed 20 May 2016).
Wise, Michael. “The Campaign for Geography in Education: The Work of the Geographical Association 1893–1993.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 101–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572491
This is a useful document and have referred to this several times during the writing of this blog.
Michael was made an Honorary Member of the GA in 1980.
Michael sadly died in 2015, aged 97 - another former GA President to have approached 100 years of age.
References
BBC Obituary
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/about-us/obituaries/obituary-professor-michael-wise-cbe-mc
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-michael-wise-geographer-whose-skills-made-him-a-leading-force-in-his-discipline-for-more-a6808241.html - this is a lengthy piece.
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_John_Wise
I edited this entry to include a mention of Michael's GA Presidency, as I have with all other Wikipedia pages for Presidents. It's rare to get a Wikipedia page so recent to the present day.
Biography: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KU08DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT117&ots=5ELMysnSPh&dq=alexander%20carr-saunders%20geography&pg=PT101#v=onepage&q&f=false
Address: WISE, M. J. “Geography in Universities and Schools.” Geography, vol. 62, no. 4, 1977, pp. 249–258. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568785
Wise, Michael. “The Campaign for Geography in Education: The Work of the Geographical Association 1893–1993.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 101–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572491
A detailed biography of Michael:
https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/138330669/MichaelJohnWise_F.pdf
(PDF download)
Wise, M. J. (2001). Becoming a geographer around the second world war. Progress in Human Geography, 25(1), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913250102500112
LSE page: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/condolences/2015/10/26/michael-wise/?from_serp=1
Includes memories from former students such as this from Peter Mitchell.
I studied under Michael Wise 1957-60 and have the warmest memories of his teaching and his personal kindness. We found we were fellow residents of Finchley. I recall going to his inaugural lecture when he got his chair. His enthusiasm for human geography rubbed off on me and with his encouragement I became a town planner. In the 90s I met him once or twice when I was in LSE for BSPS meetings and he was the same as ever. Another nice memory was a field course in his original home ground of the Midlands: a gaggle of us were in an old quarry near Dudley and a small boy was eyeing us questioningly. Far from ignoring him, Michael greeted him with “Hello, our kid”. It’s the little things that you remember!
Those who still remember the closure of LSE in 1969 and the highly charged political atmosphere will recall LSE’s finding room to continue teaching in Kings and temporary LSE Geography HQ in The Surrey, a pub then in Surrey Street. His military service during World War II, when he gained the Military Cross in Italy, was adapted to the organisation of field courses and handling student humour. Cooperation with colleagues applied across the range of courses, as I discovered when I returned as Lecturer. His door was “open” in the sense that he made time for us and students.
Source of these images is the link above.
One particular contribution Michael made was as a member of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) during the late 70s and early 80s. One of the things that he did while there was to establish a Fellowship. One person who got the fellowship turned out to be Doreen Massey, who became one of the most influential geographers in recent decades, and also a former Honorary Vice President of the GA. (Doreen will have a post on the blog in due course)
His Presidential Address was called 'Geography in Universities and Schools. It tackled the issue that we still talk about today - the possible disconnect between school and university geography. It is worth reading, using the link at the bottom of the post.
He was interviewed in this film here, which provides a little more background to his interests, and makes him another rare President to appear on video until much closer to the present day:
Interview with Professor Michael Wise, Former President of the International Geographical Union, London School of Economics and Political Science. Interviewed by Anne Buttimer.
Michael also served as a member and President of many learned societies and was one of only two UK academics to have been President of all three UK geographical societies - the Royal Geographical Society, the Geographical Association and the Institute of British Geographers - as well as the International Geographical Union.
He received the RGS Gill Memorial award in 1958 and Founder’s Medal in 1977, among many awards, and received the CBE in 1979.
(from the BBC obituary)
At his 90th birthday party, held at the LSE, according to the lengthy Independent obituary:
He read from a primary school essay that he wrote: “My favourite lesson is geography. I will tell you why. It is because it teaches me all about the world and all the things upon it.”
Michael was featured in a volume of Biographical Studies.
He wrote a chapter in a book that I have a copy of called 'Geographical Futures', and this paragraph is taken from that
Michael was mentioned by several former Presidents whom I was able to contact.
For example, Chris Kington very kindly lent me a copy of a journal piece that Michal wrote with his memories around becoming a geographer.
Wise, M. J. (2001). Becoming a geographer around the second world war. Progress in Human Geography, 25(1), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913250102500112
This described some of his early geographical adventures.I've previously mentioned a quote from this article which describes how he came across a book by H J Fleure.
He recalls being on active service in the Middle East, and the great pleasure he had in Baghdad in 1942 which came from "finding a copy of Fleure's Introduction to Geography (1929) and the poignancy struck at this time by his concluding words: 'the lives of men are bound up with the little bit of earth that is given to each to love, and the student of geography must set himself to understand the links that bind him there, and not only there, but also the very different ones that bind him and his fellow men in all lands' (p.79)
From Johnston and Board's piece: Read this!
Wise was a doughty campaigner for geography throughout the educational system, doing much work behind the scenes, in committees and other fora, as well as publishing papers such as that advocating geography’s role in technical education (1961a) which advanced his wider claim that geographers should (p.348):
"base our arguments not on the side-door entry of geography as a general education for citizenship, and as a background subject but, through the front entrance, on geography as a disciplined, practical study with its own techniques and tools directly applicable to the problems and tasks of the day. … Let us make geography a subject which does things, not merely one which reads about other people doing them."
And he wanted action to ensure that happened.
A few years later, in his presidential address to the GA, he called for it to ‘involve itself more actively than it has done in the recent past in debate on educational matters’ (1977b, 249) in an ‘aggressive defence of our subject and its approaches’ (p.256).
He noted that the discipline was changing rapidly in universities and wanted this recognised in schools, despite their need to cater not just for university entrants but also to ‘many groups of pupils with different ambitions, plans, and values’ (p.233). Steel (1983, 40 and 112) reports in his history of the IBG that Wise facilitated constructive engagement between the RGS and IBG councils in 1981, leading to the establishment of a Council of British Geographers (the two societies merged a decade later), and was instrumental in a far-reaching restructuring of the British National Committee for Geography, the body that, through the Royal Society, was responsible until 1990 for British geography’s links to international bodies such as the International Geographical Union and the International Cartographic Association (Anon. 1970; Geographical Journal 156, 1990, 350).
Larger plans for a Council of British Geography, initiated by the GA, were unsuccessful then, and although a council was established a few years later it has not played a major role, having last met in November 2012 (http://www.cobrig.org.uk/ (accessed 20 May 2016)).
During his RGS presidency Wise was also involved in the discussions that led to the establishment of the Association of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences, later the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences (http://www.the-academy.org.uk/ (accessed 20 May 2016).
Wise, Michael. “The Campaign for Geography in Education: The Work of the Geographical Association 1893–1993.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 101–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572491
This is a useful document and have referred to this several times during the writing of this blog.
Michael was made an Honorary Member of the GA in 1980.
Michael sadly died in 2015, aged 97 - another former GA President to have approached 100 years of age.
References
BBC Obituary
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/about-us/obituaries/obituary-professor-michael-wise-cbe-mc
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-michael-wise-geographer-whose-skills-made-him-a-leading-force-in-his-discipline-for-more-a6808241.html - this is a lengthy piece.
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_John_Wise
I edited this entry to include a mention of Michael's GA Presidency, as I have with all other Wikipedia pages for Presidents. It's rare to get a Wikipedia page so recent to the present day.
Biography: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KU08DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT117&ots=5ELMysnSPh&dq=alexander%20carr-saunders%20geography&pg=PT101#v=onepage&q&f=false
Address: WISE, M. J. “Geography in Universities and Schools.” Geography, vol. 62, no. 4, 1977, pp. 249–258. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568785
Wise, Michael. “The Campaign for Geography in Education: The Work of the Geographical Association 1893–1993.” Geography, vol. 78, no. 2, 1993, pp. 101–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572491
A detailed biography of Michael:
https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/138330669/MichaelJohnWise_F.pdf
(PDF download)
Wise, M. J. (2001). Becoming a geographer around the second world war. Progress in Human Geography, 25(1), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913250102500112
LSE page: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/condolences/2015/10/26/michael-wise/?from_serp=1
Includes memories from former students such as this from Peter Mitchell.
I studied under Michael Wise 1957-60 and have the warmest memories of his teaching and his personal kindness. We found we were fellow residents of Finchley. I recall going to his inaugural lecture when he got his chair. His enthusiasm for human geography rubbed off on me and with his encouragement I became a town planner. In the 90s I met him once or twice when I was in LSE for BSPS meetings and he was the same as ever. Another nice memory was a field course in his original home ground of the Midlands: a gaggle of us were in an old quarry near Dudley and a small boy was eyeing us questioningly. Far from ignoring him, Michael greeted him with “Hello, our kid”. It’s the little things that you remember!
Update October 2020
He is remembered fondly by Richard Daugherty, who sent me a copy of a letter he received from Michael following the successful launch of 'Teaching Geography' journal which he helped make a case for. It was characteristic of him to thank people in this way when they did work for the GA, something that I hope Presidents have been getting better at in recent years.
Update November 2020
He was also fondly remembered by Denys Brunsden who told me:
The most influential President in my time was Michael Wise (also a fabulous Treasurer), before that S.W.Wooldridge was a monumental presence and Dudley Stamp put the GA on a sound financial course especially with his advice to Michael and in many 'hidden' ways.
Further memories of Michael Wise welcome.
Updated August 2023
https://www.alumni.lse.ac.uk/s/1623/images/editor_documents/alumni_groups/king_s_-_lse_geog_alumni_society_newsletter_2016.pdf - memories of his time at LSE
Those who were at Juniper Hall will remember the final evening’s entertainment of Wise on the piano and Wooldridge rendering songs by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Although he was instrumental in setting up seminars and courses for graduate students, his teaching was to undergraduates both in the Joint School and inter-collegiately for some special options. He continued Stamp’s interest in Applied Geography - his involvement in regional planning shifted from the West Midlands where it was honed, to London and the South East.
Those who still remember the closure of LSE in 1969 and the highly charged political atmosphere will recall LSE’s finding room to continue teaching in Kings and temporary LSE Geography HQ in The Surrey, a pub then in Surrey Street. His military service during World War II, when he gained the Military Cross in Italy, was adapted to the organisation of field courses and handling student humour. Cooperation with colleagues applied across the range of courses, as I discovered when I returned as Lecturer. His door was “open” in the sense that he made time for us and students.
We remember a long list of faithful secretaries whom he cared about, as well as other technical staff at LSE. Even when he was Pro-Director after his “retirement” in 1983 he eagerly agreed to promote students’ suggestion for a new electric locomotive on the West Coast line to be named London School of Economics. This was duly performed by Sir Huw Wheldon, LSE’s chairman of governors. in 1985. One of his last visits to LSE was to witness the unveiling of the conserved name plate in the George IV pub, now a part of LSE in February 2008.
Michael Wise’s involvement in many of the School’s committees and those of the University was always in favour of student welfare, mostly academic. He was adept at garnering allies to achieve his aims. He supported staff and student when needed. Michael also remembered old students, retired staff not only academic or geographical, knowing their individual circumstances often to our surprise. Largely by his efforts he organised and ran for a long time the Dudley Stamp Memorial Trust in memory of his former colleague. This benefitted from his contacts and powers of persuasion, such that funds are still available, through our links with the Royal Geographical Society, for scholars registered at UK universities.
He saw his career as one to serve others, following his mentor R.H.Kinvig at Birmingham.
Michael Wise was only the second geographer to preside over all three main learned geographical societies.
His work on the Departmental Committee on Smallholdings and the Ministry of Transport’s Advisory Committee on Landscape Treatment was recognised in the appointment of CBE in 1979. Internationally his work for the 1964 International Geographical Congress in London led to the IGU presidency and many international honours.
At the centre of his life were his family – his wife Barbara, who died in 2007, daughter and son, five grand-children and four great-grand-children to whom he was devoted. An obituary was published in The Independent on 13 January 2016.
Ron Johnston and I would welcome any recollections any members may like to share.
Updated November 2023
Michael’s first and last published research papers (1948b, 1977) were on the teaching of geography.
As a trained teacher, he placed great store on how geography was taught, as reflected in his commitment to the work of the Geographical Association (GA), and his presidential addresses to that body, the Institute of British Geographers (IBG), and the RGS. To the RGS in 1981 and 1982 he took the opportunity to promote geography as the ‘rewarding study of the rich mosaic of life and landscape’ (Wise 1982, 307).
The GA, established by Mackinder and others in 1893 at the height of the crusade, continued the campaign over the next century, celebrated by Wise at its centenary (Wise 1993). He contributed substantially to those campaigns, as in his membership of a committee that considered the overlap between geography in school sixthforms and university first years (GA 1962).
"Geographers should base our arguments not on the side-door entry of geography as a general education for citizenship, and as a background subject but, through the front entrance, on geography as a disciplined, practical study with its own techniques and tools directly applicable to the problems and tasks of the day. … Let us make geography a subject which does things, not merely one which reads about other people doing them. "
He was Treasurer of the GA from 1967 to 1976, and its President from 1976 to 1977, and was President of the IBG in 1974, having previously served on its council and then as a Vice President; he was made an Honorary Member in 1989. He gave much time to all of these posts, taking good care of their resources and dispensing much quiet and sage advice, as he did also to the Dudley Stamp Memorial Trust, established after the 1964 London International Geographical Congress to provide grants to young scholars; he was its Secretary from 1966 to 1988, and then its Chair until 2005 (when he was made its honorary President).
He was also the founding President of the Transport Studies Society and for ten years (1973–1984) chaired the Executive Committee of the Association of Agriculture and, although he held no office, he was much involved, as his unpublished 1992 paper shows, in the negotiations that led to the establishment of the Regional Studies Association.
Interesting given the news about Alan Kinder's new job for 2024.
Updated July 2024
Bibliographical Studies of Geographer volumes - this one can be partly read on Google Books.
He did so much in his lifetime! A remarkable contribution to geography.
There is mention of his children: Janet Meyer and John Wise.
Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Geography is...
An awesome Editorial in the latest Area.
Written by Hilary Geoghagen, Sarah Marie Hall, Alan Latham and Julian Leyland.
It starts brilliantly:
Geography is a sprawling, ragged, gorgeous discipline. It ranges across the physical and social sciences into the humanities and the performance arts. It's a discipline with a whole heap of different ways of doing what it does. It maps and models. Critiques and exposes. Drills and digs. Surveys and measures. Talks and hangs out with. Theorises. Analyses. Deconstructs.
It's a discipline that both knows what it's about, and yet, were you to ask a group of academic geographers what exactly it is that defines geography each would give a different answer. Stuffy and hip, it's a discipline with too much difference for some and yet not nearly enough for others.
Reference
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/area.12642?campaign=woletoc#.XzqSRZJ96Ws.twitter
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
Geography and Education
I was looking for something else when I came across this book which has been made available as a PDF and written by Kieran O Mahony.
Published by Educare Press.
It explores the development of school geography in the UK with a focus on fieldwork in places.
It mentions some of the very early 'geographers', the work of Comenius, Erasmus, Vives and others, through to the interest shown by the Royal Geographical Society for a while, and on through the Keltie report, and the work of Douglas Freshfield and Pestalozzi's thinking on 'look and see' fieldwork.
It's worth taking a look at as it mentions no end of former GA Presidents who have appeared in this blog over the last couple of years.
It talks about Captain Maconochie, the first Professor of Geography in the UK in 1833 before becoming the Governor of a penal colony in Australia. He was also one of the founders and first secretary of the Royal Geographical Society.
His Wikipedia entry includes quite a lot more information on this interesting character.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/maconochie-alexander-2417
As we move into the 20th Century we are inevitably introduced to characters such as Halford Mackinder, A J Herbertson, Patrick Geddes and Le Play and Reclus.
Herbertson and colleagues were busy in 1902 when they realised they would not only have to train new teachers, but also retrain existing ones - running courses through the summer vacation. C B Fawcett (after whom there is a fellowship still in existence) and Blanche Hosgood were active here.
By the time H J Fleure is mentioned, Herbertson had involved the Ordnance Survey and standards were improving. He was also behind the launch of 'The Geographical Teacher' journal in 1901, which became 'Geography'.
The book goes on to describe the impact of the two world wars. One of these was a Ministry of Education circular 140, published in 1947 which paved the way for more fieldwork. The GA started to offer courses very quickly after this allowed for more work to be done off the school premises without HMI approval, and the FSC opened their first centre at Flatford Mill. Geoffrey Hutchings is mentioned here (another former GA President) in helping with this movement which soon saw over 200 field centres operating across the country.
A later chapter covers Grenville Cole, an early GA President.
Source:
You can read the whole book here.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED331742.pdf
Sunday, 16 August 2020
1976: United Kingdom Flood Survey
UK Flood Survey was in 'Teaching Geography'.
References
ELLIOT, GORDON. “United Kingdom Flood Survey 1976: a Project for Schools.” Teaching Geography, vol. 1, no. 3, 1976, pp. 128–129. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23752224
References
ELLIOT, GORDON. “United Kingdom Flood Survey 1976: a Project for Schools.” Teaching Geography, vol. 1, no. 3, 1976, pp. 128–129. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23752224
Saturday, 15 August 2020
1976: Michael J Walker
Michael Walker was formerly the Head of the school where I taught for over 20 years. He had a few articles published in journals and also wrote a few books.
In 1976, he contributed an article to 'Teaching Geography' exploring the curriculum - a topic which is now at the heart of much discussion.
Always interesting coming across people you know in the early journals and discovering how long ago they were contributing to the community of practice that is the GA.
Reference
WALKER, MICHAEL J. “Changing the Curriculum.” Teaching Geography, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 163–166. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23751253.
In 1976, he contributed an article to 'Teaching Geography' exploring the curriculum - a topic which is now at the heart of much discussion.
Always interesting coming across people you know in the early journals and discovering how long ago they were contributing to the community of practice that is the GA.
Reference
WALKER, MICHAEL J. “Changing the Curriculum.” Teaching Geography, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 163–166. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23751253.
Friday, 14 August 2020
New in the library
Oxfam in Exeter had this yesterday so I had to purchase it.A bit bulky for the luggage and return trip home, but had to get it as it features essays from at least nine former GA Presidents, all of them experts in the area they are writing about.
It also has an essay from Joy Tivy, Professor of Biogeography at Glasgow University.
Thursday, 13 August 2020
1975: Miss Sheila M Jones
Sheila Jones was one of the few Presidents to be a teacher when she took office. She was the first female practising teacher to take office.
Regular readers of the blog will know that it's a little unclear just how many GA Presidents were actually still teaching when taking up the post, but Sheila was definitely in the classroom at the time.
She was also only the third woman to be GA President, following Molly Long in 1970 and Alice Garnett in 1968, and marking a slight change from previous Presidents' backgrounds.
Sheila was born in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1929. When she served as GA President, she was the Head of Geography at Colston Girls' School in Bristol, and early in her Presidential address outlined how one of the great challenges she had faced was finding the time to write her lecture.
I will no doubt sympathise with that a little, although this was in the days before the two year lead in that Presidents get these days, and the current organisation of the GA with Professional staff and a Chair of Trustees. Sheila used a lot of her time as President to support those who spent their career in the classroom, after decades of Presidents who had never done any teaching, or whose teaching was in an academic or Higher Education setting rather than a school.
She went to Redland High School in Bristol (1934-1947) and in the 6th Form was actually taught by Elizabeth Fleure daughter of Professor H J Fleure of GA fame.
Sheila had a strong link with the city of Bristol, which has provided a number of Presidents over the years, as mentioned in John Westaway's Presidential lecture, where she got a mention. She also studied geography at Bristol University.
At that time the University's Geography department was not as noted as it is now. Several of Sheila's small year group were ex- service personnel (as were quite a few GA Presidents at this time, as has been noted). There were few employment opportunities then, so most of that year group became teachers and some progressed as college lecturers.
Her Education year (1950-51), was a revelation, with Dr. Gladys Hickman who introduced her year group to fieldwork opportunities and was a great innovator. Many of her students owed much of their success in teaching to her in Sheila's opinion.
Gladys had her own post on the blog back in May.
For her first job, Sheila was the only Geographer in a two stream girls' grammar school in Falmouth, then a similar school in Dorchester, Dorset. In 1957 she moved back to Bristol as Head of Department at Colstons Girls School where she stayed until she retired in 1979. I think she must have arrived just after Margaret Roberts, who went to the school as a pupil, left.
In that time Sheila became one of the first pair of teacher tutors in the Bristol University Education department, a member of the local branch of the GA and was involved with the Easter GA conferences, which at the time happened in addition to the New Year conferences where the AGM was held. Sheila remembers attending Easter conferences in Swansea, Liverpool and Birmingham. Gradually numbers declined for those but at the same time the New Year was increasingly difficult with it becoming a Bank Holiday and a period of strikes and increasing salaries and expenses. As a result the peripatetic round of regional events disappeared, being replaced by travelling and now down to the current three locations of Sheffield, Manchester and Guildford on a rotation (although even this might be subject to change in the future).
She was also a member of the 14-18 Project, served on the RGS Council, was the Vice Chairman of the Schools Council Geography Commitee and of course GA President in 1975. What a range of experiences and achievements. All of these were made possible by an understanding Headteacher. She was involved with the creation of three school textbooks.
She also attended courses and conferences including Madingley and Charney Manor.
Her Presidential Address was called 'The Challenge of Change in Geography Teaching' and explored notions of change in the profession.
There are some excellent sections on change, and the challenges of teaching itself (something which many GA Presidents may have had little experience of... or which might have been for some a distant memory)
The preparation of my lecture has certainly proved to me that one of the greatest challenges facing all of us working in school is that of time. Those of you who like me work at the chalk face will agree that another of our challenges is to keep up to date with the proliferation of texts of all types concerned with the teaching and content of our subject. You too may feel guilty when conversing with a geographical educationist who quotes on Saturday, or even Friday evening, the most recent educational news from the week's Times Educational Supplement. Not only do we have to try to keep up with the literature but also with current jargon which, if used in the average classroom, would create an impenetrable barrier to communication.
(Jones, 1976)
She also referred to other changes:
Reviewing the DES courses during the years 1970-76, Sheila Jones stated:
"It shows
quite clearly the current trend. Obviously what some are disposed to call the
"Quantitative Revolution" was infiltrating into schools from 1970 to 1973, with
applicants heavily outnumbering those who could actually be accepted for the
courses. Likewise the Schools Council Geography 15-18 Project, in seeking
to answer the question 'Is there really a "new geography"?', concluded there
had been an important general shift in approaches to the subject: geographers have become:
(a) more critical of concepts and models
that had previously been taken for granted, e.g. the 'region'; the
Davisian cycle, or maps themselves; and hence are less ready to rely on
'common sense' and on unquantified evaluation of how well models
and concepts used in geography match the real world.
(b) more
enterprising in devising new models, and in borrowing ideas like
systems-analysis, or methods of evaluation such as regression analyses
from other subjects."
Sheila attended the 125th Anniversary dinner of the Associationl at Oxford University in 2018, and is pictured here - thanks to Bryan Ledgard for the image.
Image credit: Geographical Association and Bryan Ledgard
In 2019, I sent round a questionnaire to all those former Presidents who were still able to receive one, and received some lovely e-mail responses from Sheila, who is the oldest living former GA President.
Here are some of her memories from the time as President.
I asked her how she had found it being a teacher at the same time as being President - something which worried me before I applied.
My Headmistress was very understanding and always said that any success reflected well on school. She came as a guest to my Presidential evening.
I also later remembered with happy thoughts other Presidents, Michael Storm who shares a love of cricket and have met annually at the Cheltenham Cricket festival.
Also Chris Kingston representing publishers and Tony Binns.
Other memories are silly one like Denys Brunsden fetching coffee for the Saturday Council meeting at LSE and deciding that we deserved Lion Bars as well which was an unexpected GA expense but the Treasurer agreed to it.
I also remember having to give a toast at the IBG dinner in Coventry when many members lost their money as they had not anticipated a long one with jokes!
Another memory was the New Years Eve when Robert Steel was President (1972-3). At that time there were strikes at New Year (a reason why timing changed) so Denys stayed overnight instead of commuting as Conference organiser, and escorted the Steel family, Pat Cleverley and me to Trafalgar Square for the New Year celebrations.
She was also Branch Officer
Daugherty, R., Lewis, G., & Mills, D. (1978). The Geographical Association. Geography, 63(2), 126-137. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568896
She was also Branch Officer
Daugherty, R., Lewis, G., & Mills, D. (1978). The Geographical Association. Geography, 63(2), 126-137. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568896
In our early GA days Emrys Bowen was a very kind member of the hierarchy and Norman Pye was the one person who should have been a President but chose not to be.
Norman Pye has already featured on the blog in his own blog post as it happens.
Personal communication (2019)
I was also pleased to get Sheila Jones' memories on what gave her the 'spark' for geography which was part of Chris Kington's project around his own Presidency. Chris loaned me the letters that he had collected at the time. Due to Coronavirus I've still got them 7 months on from the loan.
Sheila said that she had "drifted into geography as my favourite subject at school". She explained that her father was a rep for an engineering firm, travelling throughout South Wales and the West Country. in the 30s and 40s, unlike most of her contemporaries, there was a family car available for use. She would also accompany her father on trips to Gloucester, Cardiff and Taunton, and left to look around herself with a street map, and also be on time to meet up again later in the day. The glories of a roaming childhood which is now mostly lost.
She also enjoyed having good teaching.
Her High School Certificate teacher, who turned out to be Elizabeth Fleure, the daughter of no less a person than Professor H J Fleure (although she didn't know it at the time) had visited places like the Grand Canyon and even in the 1940s was using colour slides in her teaching. She mentions seeing the Grand Canyon image and saying to herself "I don't suppose I shall ever see it". She also mentions reading a book by Nora Cundell called "Unsentimental Journey" which was influential to her.
Sheila also told me why she feels that the GA matters so much:
"I think it is very important to support and educate teachers and also to present the subject nationally, e.g. the GA conference with Sir Keith Joseph (more on that to come in time). My first involvement was at the time of the Easter Conference in Bristol. Geoffrey Hutchings, chair of the Fieldwork committee invited me to join it, but died soon after and his successor formed a new commitee. Then I was invited to join the Models and Quantitive commitee. There I met John Everson, Brian Fitzgerald, and Richard Daugherty becoming Secretary and then Chairman. This led to a place on Council and on to the working group bringing about the first constitutional change. It was a period of great change in many ways.
Norman Pye has already featured on the blog in his own blog post as it happens.
Personal communication (2019)
I was also pleased to get Sheila Jones' memories on what gave her the 'spark' for geography which was part of Chris Kington's project around his own Presidency. Chris loaned me the letters that he had collected at the time. Due to Coronavirus I've still got them 7 months on from the loan.
Sheila said that she had "drifted into geography as my favourite subject at school". She explained that her father was a rep for an engineering firm, travelling throughout South Wales and the West Country. in the 30s and 40s, unlike most of her contemporaries, there was a family car available for use. She would also accompany her father on trips to Gloucester, Cardiff and Taunton, and left to look around herself with a street map, and also be on time to meet up again later in the day. The glories of a roaming childhood which is now mostly lost.
She also enjoyed having good teaching.
Her High School Certificate teacher, who turned out to be Elizabeth Fleure, the daughter of no less a person than Professor H J Fleure (although she didn't know it at the time) had visited places like the Grand Canyon and even in the 1940s was using colour slides in her teaching. She mentions seeing the Grand Canyon image and saying to herself "I don't suppose I shall ever see it". She also mentions reading a book by Nora Cundell called "Unsentimental Journey" which was influential to her.
Sheila also told me why she feels that the GA matters so much:
"I think it is very important to support and educate teachers and also to present the subject nationally, e.g. the GA conference with Sir Keith Joseph (more on that to come in time). My first involvement was at the time of the Easter Conference in Bristol. Geoffrey Hutchings, chair of the Fieldwork committee invited me to join it, but died soon after and his successor formed a new commitee. Then I was invited to join the Models and Quantitive commitee. There I met John Everson, Brian Fitzgerald, and Richard Daugherty becoming Secretary and then Chairman. This led to a place on Council and on to the working group bringing about the first constitutional change. It was a period of great change in many ways.
The President when I became one was undemocratic, one was selected by a very small group of the hierarchy, in my time Professor Robert Steel was one of them. Also 'Teaching Geography' was introduced after a lively AGM, publications were increased, the first attempt at commercialisation with sales of ball point pens, introduced. although not sold or stored by Office staff but by GA members. There was also the introduction of a Branch Officer with annual meetings for Branch reps. as the first Branch Officer, after being President I felt very strongly about. When I look at the list of publications available now and the range of Conference activities I think that Geography teachers are very lucky."
Of her time as President, she says:
"At that time, unlike my academic predecessors I had no lecture experience, no secretarial support and no visual aid support. However I did get help from GA HQ for research, and friends in Bristol University Geography department departmentt for slides. My lecture at LSE was marred by projection problems!
At this time, presentations were done via slides loaded into a carousel. One of them was displayed upside down - would be fun to have one of my powerpoint slides upside down.
I still feel much gratitude to David Jones and Barrie Morgan as my Conference organisers: a hard job at that time. In those days the Conference had a Presidential evening reception at LSE which I think I enjoyed less than any other as one could not relax".
At this time, presentations were done via slides loaded into a carousel. One of them was displayed upside down - would be fun to have one of my powerpoint slides upside down.
I still feel much gratitude to David Jones and Barrie Morgan as my Conference organisers: a hard job at that time. In those days the Conference had a Presidential evening reception at LSE which I think I enjoyed less than any other as one could not relax".
And some memories:
"My immediate predecessor was Professor Harry Thorpe. At that time one was only involved for a year as President and for my first Council Meeting I was only given an Agenda shortly before the meeting started, thinking this was because I was only a schoolteacher I was greatly cheered when Harry told me that it had also happened to him.
He was very supportive.
I do have some memories of Presidents but they are general rather than specific.
As one would expect Rex Walford's was both successful, entertaining and enjoyable. Several of my memories are of Presidential evenings: Eleanor Rawling on a boat which could not leave harbour in Southampton and Richard Daugherty on the Thames, heading out to the Thames Barrage, plus John Westaway and the coach transport problems from Guildford, the Lord Mayors speech at Sheffield.
My greatest memory however is of the friendships I made over the years and have maintained not only with schoolteachers but also with University staff and HMIs. Apart from people already mentioned I would add Denys Brunsden as one of the best lecturers at GA conferences, Graham Humphrys who was a great supporter of school geography, Vic Dennison also from Bristol and unusually an F.E. lecturer who always asked questions of the treasurer, Professor Michael Wise at the AGM, Michael himself, Brian Coates and the work he did over the years in modernising the GAHQ but at the same time looking after the finances.
And finally a mention of two good friends of the GA who have died recently: Doreen Massey and Mchael Bradford."
A few details also came from this book, which featured Sheila, and her contributions to British geography, along with other GA notables.
She describes her shock at being suggested for GA President by another former GA President Robert Steel.
Sheila took over as Branch Officer for a time as well, and wrote a history of the Bristol GA Branch.
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
References
Daugherty, R. A., et al. “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 62, no. 2, 1977, pp. 129–139. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568648. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020
Daugherty, R. A., et al. “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 64, no. 2, 1979, pp. 138–150. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40569097. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020.
JONES, SHEILA M. “The Challenge of Change in Geography Teaching.” Geography, vol. 61, no. 4, 1976, pp. 195–205. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568588.
Sheila Jones (1993) A brief history of the Bristol branch of the Geographical Association. Bristol: Geographical Association
Bristol University Geography department history:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/media-library/sites/geography/documents/bristolgeoghistory2009.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivor_Goodson/publication/339722653_Geography_Aspects_of_Subject_History-Goodson/links/5e611686a6fdccac3cebc796/Geography-Aspects-of-Subject-History-Goodson.pdf
As always, if anyone has further memories or images of 1975 (or any other year) please get in touch.
I am very grateful to Sheila for providing so much detail on her memories and professional experiences. There are so many connections here with other former GA Presidents and events which have been added to the blog over the last year or so.
A few details also came from this book, which featured Sheila, and her contributions to British geography, along with other GA notables.
She describes her shock at being suggested for GA President by another former GA President Robert Steel.
Sheila took over as Branch Officer for a time as well, and wrote a history of the Bristol GA Branch.
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
References
Daugherty, R. A., et al. “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 62, no. 2, 1977, pp. 129–139. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568648. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020
Daugherty, R. A., et al. “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 64, no. 2, 1979, pp. 138–150. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40569097. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020.
JONES, SHEILA M. “The Challenge of Change in Geography Teaching.” Geography, vol. 61, no. 4, 1976, pp. 195–205. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40568588.
Sheila Jones (1993) A brief history of the Bristol branch of the Geographical Association. Bristol: Geographical Association
Bristol University Geography department history:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/media-library/sites/geography/documents/bristolgeoghistory2009.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivor_Goodson/publication/339722653_Geography_Aspects_of_Subject_History-Goodson/links/5e611686a6fdccac3cebc796/Geography-Aspects-of-Subject-History-Goodson.pdf
As always, if anyone has further memories or images of 1975 (or any other year) please get in touch.
I am very grateful to Sheila for providing so much detail on her memories and professional experiences. There are so many connections here with other former GA Presidents and events which have been added to the blog over the last year or so.
Updated October 2020
Thanks to Sheila Jones for sending me further updates during 2020
From her most recent e-mail:
The GA was founded by academics, and teachers were encouraged to join but the stress was originally on University staff.
Then, as teachers started being more active, teachers started becoming President. I remember I was first woman in 1975 and the first man was about 1970. Simon Catling was the first Primary. At the same time, pressures were mounting on academics to support their own location.
They needed to write papers if they were to succeed. Thus in Swansea, Graham Humphrys deserved Professorship with all his work with schools but one was awarded to a colleague instead. The influence of some of the HMIs should not be discounted as well."
Updated March 2021
A memory from Jeremy Krause, President in 2001
1976 Sheila Jones
I regularly visit a friend at a Retirement Village in Bristol who lives near Sheila Jones. She was the first female teacher to be President of the GA. Recently she shared with me an offprint of her 1976 Presidential Address. It all seemed so fresh and served as a reminder of the common cause we have been engaged with for the past 128 years.
These are her final two paragraphs
“In conclusion I should like to refer to part of Professor Stanislawski's obituary to Carl Sauer who died last year: "He rejected the proposition that a teacher was obligated to pour knowledge into students while they were comfortably unaware - a method that may result in saturated sponges but hardly artesian wells of inspiration." You will all realize that this has been a very personal and consequently rather superficial consideration of the challenges facing us today. I hope that you may disagree with some, although not all of my opinions and if so, you may be provoked into considering your own point of view and possibly in clarifying your own aims and objectives. If so, then I will have achieved what I hope to achieve in the classroom, that is, a statement made by Carl Sauer in one of his last conversations - "I tried to encourage students to keep on thinking”.
D. Stanislawski, Carl Ortwin Sauer, 1 889-1 975, Journal of Geography, vol. 74, 1975, pp. 548- The Challenge of Change in Geography Teaching Author(s):
SHEILA M. JONES Geography, November 1976, Vol. 61, No. 4 (November 1976), pp. 195-205 Published by: Geographical Association
Update June 2021
Sheila sadly passed away on the 28th of May 2021
Jeremy Krause passed on the news.
She died in Southmead Hospital in Bristol A very special person in so many ways to those who knew her. The Geography community has lost one of its pioneers ! The first woman teacher to be GA President and our oldest surviving President.
Look out for an appreciation in the GA Magazine in Autumn 2021.
Further memories of Sheila always welcome - as with every Presidential post on this blog...
I mentioned Sheila in my own GA Presidential lecture including other people we had lost since the previous GA Conference in person.
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