Updated August 2023Richard (Dick) Lawton was an academic geographer who was active in all spheres of the subject during a long career, and involved in moves to improve the standard of teaching in universities.
He was born in County Durham, but he was linked with the University of Liverpool for his entire career. He was very much influenced by the teaching of a previous GA President,
Professor Percy Maude Roxby.
He was born in County Durham, but he was linked with the University of Liverpool for his entire career. He was very much influenced by the teaching of a previous GA President,
Professor Percy Maude Roxby.
He was described by Bill Chambers (President in 2004) as
"a tough Yorkshireman and utterly committed to geography and to the GA especially on Merseyside."
His 1972 inaugural lecture, ‘An age of great cities’ (itself a classic Lawton tour-de-force apparently) and his 1987 Presidential Address to the Institute of British Geographers, ‘Peopling the past’ were said to have encapsulated his academic achievement.
He was a good and faithful servant of the (then) three principal professional organisations: the Geographical Association (Member of Council 1975–89 and President 1982–83); the Institute of British Geographers (Honorary Secretary 1973–76 and President 1986); the Royal Geographical Society (Member of Council 1986–89).
As an official or committee member Dick was always in total command of the details and could deal sharply with those who, having failed to ‘do their homework’, made lazy or ill-informed contributions to proceedings.
He wrote a useful piece on Career opportunities for Geographers in 'Geography' in 1980 as well, connecting with my own work in this area during 2020.
Source:
His 1972 inaugural lecture, ‘An age of great cities’ (itself a classic Lawton tour-de-force apparently) and his 1987 Presidential Address to the Institute of British Geographers, ‘Peopling the past’ were said to have encapsulated his academic achievement.
He had a distinguished wartime career, as did many GA Presidents during this time.
His undergraduate studies were broken by three years (1943–46) as a sub‐lieutenant aboard the corvette HMS Primrose hunting U‐boats on the North Atlantic - an experience which I am sure informed his geography in many different ways.
His duties on board the ship included those of librarian, in charge of a set of the top‐secret Naval Intelligence Geographical Handbooks, many written by those who would become his tutors and his colleagues after the war was over, and some of whom we have featured in the posts on this blog of course.
From a description of his work:
From a description of his work:
He was a good and faithful servant of the (then) three principal professional organisations: the Geographical Association (Member of Council 1975–89 and President 1982–83); the Institute of British Geographers (Honorary Secretary 1973–76 and President 1986); the Royal Geographical Society (Member of Council 1986–89).
As an official or committee member Dick was always in total command of the details and could deal sharply with those who, having failed to ‘do their homework’, made lazy or ill-informed contributions to proceedings.
He wrote a useful piece on Career opportunities for Geographers in 'Geography' in 1980 as well, connecting with my own work in this area during 2020.
Source:
Lawton, R. (1980). CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FOR GEOGRAPHERS. Geography, 65(3), 236-244. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569280
The last award he received was the RGS's prestigious Murchison Award in 1983 ‘for his contributions to historical geography and geographical education’. In his reply on behalf of those who received honours from the RGS that year Dick reflected his firm belief in the importance of geography (‘a truly universal subject in its appeal and relevance’) in education for citizenship, a concern advanced as Secretary of the Council of British Geographers (COBRIG)
Expanding on this:
There was nothing narrow or instrumental in his teaching, with its invitations to explore beyond anything that might be regarded as ‘curriculum’ and its frequent historical, literary and biblical allusions enthusiastically delivered to classes who were assumed if not to know about them at least to savour them. Like many of his generation he had serious academic interests and knowledge far wider than those they expressed in their publications. That may seem strange in the current university climate but simply reflects a shift of priorities from teaching in its widest sense to research in its narrowest.
As with another President who was to follow him: Rex Walford, he also had a particular interest in music.
He was also, it seems an accomplished historian, and wrote a history of the Ryedale village of Marton.
He was interested in the developments of the village.
This was a generous, fearless man who could direct a fiery indignation against humbug and intellectual dishonesty, while showing a deep sensitivity to understanding the problems and applauding the achievements of others. These were some of the many things we loved him for. It will be a duller world without him.
References
Obituary:
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00408.x
Selected publications
Lawton R 1972 An age of great cities Town Planning Review 43 199–224
Lawton R 1983 Space, place and time Geography 68 193–207
Lawton R 1987 Peopling the past Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers new series 12 259–83
Lawton R 2009 Marton: a short history Ryedale District Council Lawton R and Cunningham C M eds 1970 Merseyside: social and economic studies Longman, London
Lawton R and Lee W R eds 1989 Urban population development in western Europe from the late-eighteenth to the early twentieth century Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Lawton R and Lee W R eds 2002 Population and society in western European port cities, c 1650–1939 Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Lawton R and Pooley C G 1992 Britain, 1740–1950: an historical geography Edward Arnold London Lawton R, Aspinall P J and Hudson D M 1982 Ellesmere Port: the making of an industrial borough Borough Council of Ellesmere Port, Neston, South Wirral
Steel R W and Lawton R eds 1967 Liverpool essays in geography: a jubilee collection Longman, London
https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/richard-(-dick-)-lawton-(1925-2010)/
An influence on the work of Gerry Kearns:
https://hgrg.org.uk/how-i-became-a-geographer-2/
His GA Presidential lecture was entitled: 'Space, Place and Time'
In it, he explores some important geographical concepts:
This particular quote from his address is interesting:
"Knowledge of places, awareness of space and perception
of spatial order - both life-space and social space - is built up over time and in the context of
shared cultural experience. Hence it is not equally open to all and is shaped by many factors
such as age, education, opportunities of travel and the like. These interact over time in a
complex way to create a hierarchy of personal space from the very familiar - home,
workplace, neighbourhood - to the occasionally visited, which may be far in distance but not
now necessarily in time (overseas holidays, and international business trips or conferences).
Indeed, modern telephonic and radio communication is leading towards a micro-electronic
era in which we may well witness the ultimate collapse of space by time. This substitutability
of one dimension of our world by another is not new, as we shall see, but never before have
the implications of it been so profound..."
- there certainly have been some profound changes in our lives in the micro-electronic era...
In the Space section he references Richard Hartshorne and talks about the idea of "life space".
The last award he received was the RGS's prestigious Murchison Award in 1983 ‘for his contributions to historical geography and geographical education’. In his reply on behalf of those who received honours from the RGS that year Dick reflected his firm belief in the importance of geography (‘a truly universal subject in its appeal and relevance’) in education for citizenship, a concern advanced as Secretary of the Council of British Geographers (COBRIG)
An obituary was published in the Geographical Journal, following his death in 2010.
A few quotes from this piece:
In 1995 (in an essay on the historical geography of the British Isles published in German) he summarised his chief interest as the historical and social geography of the British Isles, especially the urban and population problems of industrial society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
"There was nothing narrow or instrumental in his teaching, with its invitations to explore beyond anything that might be regarded as ‘curriculum’ "
A few quotes from this piece:
In 1995 (in an essay on the historical geography of the British Isles published in German) he summarised his chief interest as the historical and social geography of the British Isles, especially the urban and population problems of industrial society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
"There was nothing narrow or instrumental in his teaching, with its invitations to explore beyond anything that might be regarded as ‘curriculum’ "
Expanding on this:
There was nothing narrow or instrumental in his teaching, with its invitations to explore beyond anything that might be regarded as ‘curriculum’ and its frequent historical, literary and biblical allusions enthusiastically delivered to classes who were assumed if not to know about them at least to savour them. Like many of his generation he had serious academic interests and knowledge far wider than those they expressed in their publications. That may seem strange in the current university climate but simply reflects a shift of priorities from teaching in its widest sense to research in its narrowest.
What his students experienced was rock‐solid integrity from a teacher who demonstrated that knowledge mattered, and could open doors onto worlds they never knew existed.
He did not patronise or talk down to them, but simply encouraged them to do better and better.
As with another President who was to follow him: Rex Walford, he also had a particular interest in music.
He was also, it seems an accomplished historian, and wrote a history of the Ryedale village of Marton.
He was interested in the developments of the village.
He is an authority on the historical and social geography of Britain and has written more than 150 research articles and books.
Professor Lawton says the Domesday Book village, which gets its name from a farm or place by a pool, was originally part of the lands of Sinnington Manor and was in the hands of Norman lords until the 16th century.
An RGS remembrance ends with these kind words:This was a generous, fearless man who could direct a fiery indignation against humbug and intellectual dishonesty, while showing a deep sensitivity to understanding the problems and applauding the achievements of others. These were some of the many things we loved him for. It will be a duller world without him.
Obituary:
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00408.x
Selected publications
Lawton R 1972 An age of great cities Town Planning Review 43 199–224
Lawton R 1983 Space, place and time Geography 68 193–207
Lawton R 1987 Peopling the past Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers new series 12 259–83
Lawton R 2009 Marton: a short history Ryedale District Council Lawton R and Cunningham C M eds 1970 Merseyside: social and economic studies Longman, London
Lawton R and Lee W R eds 1989 Urban population development in western Europe from the late-eighteenth to the early twentieth century Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Lawton R and Lee W R eds 2002 Population and society in western European port cities, c 1650–1939 Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Lawton R and Pooley C G 1992 Britain, 1740–1950: an historical geography Edward Arnold London Lawton R, Aspinall P J and Hudson D M 1982 Ellesmere Port: the making of an industrial borough Borough Council of Ellesmere Port, Neston, South Wirral
Steel R W and Lawton R eds 1967 Liverpool essays in geography: a jubilee collection Longman, London
https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/richard-(-dick-)-lawton-(1925-2010)/
An influence on the work of Gerry Kearns:
https://hgrg.org.uk/how-i-became-a-geographer-2/
- RGS obituary with further information and some images - worth reading.
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00408.x#:~:text=Dick%20Lawton%20was%20an%20empiricist,to%20the%20Geographical%20Association%20showed.
Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britain-1740-1950-Historical-Richard-Lawton/dp/0713165502
Liverpool Essays:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-geography-jubilee-collection-Richard/dp/B0014KRQ02
co-written with former GA President Robert W Steel.
Lecture from GA Conference:
LAWTON, R. Changes in University Geography. Geography, vol. 63, no. 1, 1978,“www.jstor.org/stable/40568829. Accessed 25 Aug. 2020.
If anyone has any further information on Richard Lawton please get in touch as this entry is quite brief compared with some of the other recent entries.
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00408.x#:~:text=Dick%20Lawton%20was%20an%20empiricist,to%20the%20Geographical%20Association%20showed.
Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britain-1740-1950-Historical-Richard-Lawton/dp/0713165502Liverpool Essays:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-geography-jubilee-collection-Richard/dp/B0014KRQ02
co-written with former GA President Robert W Steel.
Lecture from GA Conference:
LAWTON, R. Changes in University Geography. Geography, vol. 63, no. 1, 1978,“www.jstor.org/stable/40568829. Accessed 25 Aug. 2020.
If anyone has any further information on Richard Lawton please get in touch as this entry is quite brief compared with some of the other recent entries.
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 here is the response that Richard sent:
As with many Presidents, Dick mentioned his childhood, and a fascination with maps, followed by exploration of the local area: in his case the limestone across the moors.
He also had a "dynamic junior geography teacher" at Houghton-le-Spring Grammar School called Doris Parkinson. As with Richard Daugherty, Lawton was a scholarship boy, back in 1936.
I wonder whether Doris is a distant relation.
Richard says "What cricket mad schoolboy could resist a lesson in which the diversity of West Indian society was ullustrated from a photo of the touring side of, I think, 1937 with its ethnic mix from the captain, white of course, at that time, through varying degress of mixed blood to fully black...."
Doris was a Liverpool graduate, and that took him to Liverpool where he encountered many of the luminaries that have featured on this blog already: Percy Roxby, Wilfred Smith, Clifford Darby, Bill Mead, Frank Monkhouse and Harry Wilkinson.
He says that he learnt from them "not only about geography, but how to be a geographer".
Thanks to Chris Kington for the loan of the letters.
Update March 2021
Bill Chambers, President for 2004 remembered Dick Lawton getting him involved with the GA, as Dick was in charge of the GA's Liverpool Branch: He told me:
Once established from 1973 at Notre Dame College Liverpool (now Liverpool Hope University) and being responsible for the training of primary and secondary teachers it was a natural progression to join the local branch of the GA which was largely run by Professor Dick Lawton of Liverpool University.
After a decade as Programme Secretary and later Chair of the Branch I was encouraged as part of my professional development by my head of department Alan Hammersley to contribute nationally and I joined the Environmental Education Working Group. The GA gave me the opportunity to work with the great geographers of the day and become aware of current developments in geography. It also gave me an opportunity to begin to publish both academic and pedagogical papers. I also made many lifelong friends including Tony Thomas the inspirational head of the Field Studies Council.
Updated August 2023
He co-edited a collection of essays on Liverpool with another former GA President with Liverpool connections: Robert Steel, published in 1967
Another book on Liverpool that he co-authored
Appears in this book - £150 though...
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