“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)
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