Michael Cross' memories

I enjoyed this account of going to Oxford University in the 1950s... by Michael Cross.

There are mentions of quite a few former GA Presidents along the way.

A few extracts

There were also, I remember, the Admiralty Handbooks. These were written by geographers in both Oxford and Cambridge during the War years to inform the military of the history, geography and culture of countries in the sphere of war.

We were all well aware of the Davisian cycle of erosion and it seemed almost to be geomorphologically 'fashionable' to look for erosion surfaces - they seemed to play such a major part in the interpretation of landscapes. Wooldridge and Morgan's Geomorphology along with Wooldridge and Linton's Structure, Surface and Drainage in South East England were necessary 'reads'. We were also made aware of a new (to most of us) hypothesis challenging Davis's, one formulated by Penck - summarised by "wearing back as opposed to wearing down". Little were we to realise that over the decades to follow another half dozen or so hypotheses would be suggested by competing geomorphologists. (I have often thought that it would be true to say that wherever two geomorphologists are gathered together, they will disagree!)

Research on frontal systems had only properly got underway in the inter-War period. Air masses were new to us. The then latest edition of Austin Miller's Climatology had what appeared to be an added chapter, Air Masses, and we were advised to buy this edition and avoid older second-hand copies without it. I find it remarkable that today it is routine for TV weather forecasters to refer to air masses in their forecasts. Similarly, most had not heard of the jet stream. I believe some empirical knowledge of jet streams was gained by fighter pilots over Japan in WW2 but it only 'filtered through' to the general public with the growth of high-level airline flights in the 1960s and beyond. During my three years I cannot recall any mention being made, detailed or otherwise, of the jet stream.

Jean Brunhes 'classic' text La Geographie Humaine, although nearly forty years old, was recommended reading, as was The British Isles by Dudley (later Sir Dudley) Stamp - aka 'Deadly Dudley'! 

I wonder why he was Deadly Dudley... as in deadly dull?

In 1954, the annual meeting of the British Association was held in Oxford and thus the accompanying volume The Oxford Region was an up to date source. Edited by my tutor A F Martin and by R W Steel, other familiar names are listed on the Contents page (Dr Steel left midway through my time at Oxford and went on to become Professor of Geography at Liverpool.)

Reference:

https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/alumni/news/181127-mcross-1950-geog.html

1960: Professor Arthur Austin Miller

Updated October 2023.

A(rthur) Austin Miller was the first GA President of the 1960s - an era of great change for the Association

As with other Presidents in the decades following the Second World War, he had a military background as well as his academic one, and he had served during the First World War, in the Royal Flying Corps (although the war ended when he had just passed his 18th birthday) so he waited for the Second World War to go flying again, when he again saw active service. I wonder how many GA Presidents did that.

He was originally intending to study chemical engineering (similar to David Leslie Linton - the President in 1964), but became a geologist instead initially.
He was inspired to do this partly by lectures from another influential former GA President: E. J. Garwood.

He worked at Reading University, where he was described as a "doyen of geographical climatology."

He was a key contributor to a conference session on the future of geography in schools as long back as 1945, which was chaired by another former President Sidney Wooldridge, showing a long-term connection with the GA. Wooldridge seems to have mentored quite a few people who went on to become GA President.

Miller also served on the GA's council for several years during the 1940s and held several roles, as did many GA Presidents during this time - in fact deep involvement in the GA is a prerequisite for being elected as GA President really.

Miller was also a founding member of the Institute of British Geographers in 1933, joining several other GA Presidents in that respect in their link with this body, which later merged with the RGS to form the current RGS-IBG, and later became President.
This article provides a great deal more information about his role in the IBG.

Stoddart, D. R. “Progress in Geography: The Record of the I. B. G.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 8, no. 1, 1983, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/622270 - source of the image above

Miller's IBG Presidential Address was given in 1948, and was on the dissection and analysis of maps.



He talks about the value of maps to geographers....


I liked the explanation that there were 24 lantern slides used to illustrate this lecture (although they weren't produced in Transactions sadly, although links to places where they had been published were included)

He also described the early days of geographers using the statistician's tools and introducing some numeracy.

Hugh Robert Mill is mentioned here too.



In 1947, he wrote an article for the GA's journal 'Geography' where he talked about the importance of exploring current affairs (an early mention for the idea of 'floating topicality' that Jeff Stanfield has talked about).
Here's a section from the article:

 Geography, Alive and Dead : the Teacher and the Text-book 

Although we pride ourselves that we have left behind the devastating dullness of the old geography it still happens sometimes that pupils, generally the duller and less imaginative among them, lose interest. And whose fault can this be but our own ? 

Often the root cause is too great a reliance on the text-book, which, of necessity, must attempt to reduce a complex scene to simplicity, order and tidiness ; life withers and the sap dries up in the process.
We read an account, in an advanced text-book, of the South Wales coalfield.

Within the few thousand words it can afford it is compelled to compress the geological structure, the types of coal, the output, the valley forms, the resultant settlement pattern, the communications, the industries, the exports and much more. These, of course, are very important, and constitute the minimum of firm knowledge that the pupil should retain. But what sort of a picture does it give of "man's" life in a pit village ?

It tells him nothing of the daily round, the long tramp or ride to the pithead, the sickening drop in the cage, the darkness until the eyes accustom to the dimness underground, the long dirty walk to the coal face, the distant rumble of the tub train approaching, the deafening bombardment of noise at the coal face by pneumatic picks and conveyor belt, the hewer stripped to the waist with the sweat trickling into his eyes and the, black smear of coal dust where he wipes it away with the back of his hand, the crouching in the darkness waiting for the shots to be fired, the anxious counting of the explosions, the danger of roof-falls and explosion of gas, the bravery and self-sacrifice of rescue parties, the tragedy and heroism of men and families in distress or disaster, and, up above, the mean rows of insanitary cottages, the open drains, the long sidings full of waiting trucks, the hiss of steam and the clang of shunting engines, the great wheels spinning as the cage rushes up or down the shaft, the unemployment, the pubs, the clubs, the pithead baths, the dispensaries, the tuberculosis, the silicosis, the black lungs, and skin ingrained with coal dust, the football, the choirs, the dogs, the Sunday afternoons, the fresh air and the sunshine or rain out on the windy hilltops only a mile away, the fouling of nature by "man."

These are the flesh and blood needed to clothe the stark skeleton of the text-book summary and these the teacher can and must supply.
But how ?
Partly by using his own knowledge to amplify and vivify the text with lively description ; partly by giving reading of a wide scope, and partly by appealing through the eye with visual aid.

Those comments all seem reasonable.

Miller's GA Presidential Address was given in 1960, on Climate and the Geomorphic Cycle.



In the GA Annual Report of 1960, he was thanked for his hard work and attention to business. 

Membership had passed 5000 during this time, and was continuing its upward course.

During this year, a former President Lord Nathan had been working on redrafting the constitution of the Association, and worked on some Statutes and Standing Orders. The Governing Body, on which the President now serves explores and updates these documents which underpin the running of the Association.

Miller published several papers, and wrote a book on Climatology, and others on Everyday Meteorology and one called 'The Skin of the Earth'.

In 1945, for example, he contributed to a debate about the future of Geography at the first post-war Annual Conference. This was reported in 'Geography' as shown below:

I came across a copy of A Austin Miller's book on 'Climatology' in an Oxfam bookshop in Norwich.

From his Obituary:



As with many other Presidents of the Geographical Association, there were also connections with the Royal Geographical Society.
Miller was awarded their Murchison Medal for this contributions to geography.

He was also the first Miller to be president, with the current President Gill Miller sharing the surname.

References
GA Annual Report 1960
Obituary
https://www.jstor.org/stable/621417?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Linton, David L. “Obituary: Emeritus Professor A. Austin Miller.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 134, no. 3, 1968, pp. 467–469. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1793043 - obituary by another former GA president.
Volume in his honour (scanned so lots of text errors, but readable - mentions of various other past Presidents early on, and foreword by L. Dudley Stamp - https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.111768/2015.111768.Essays-In-Geography-For-Austin-Miller_djvu.txt )

“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Conference Discussions on the Future for Geography.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 50–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563427

Miller, A. Austin. “THE GEOGRAPHER AND CURRENT AFFAIRS.” Geography, vol. 32, no. 2, 1947, pp. 77–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40546378

Miller, A. Austin. “The Dissection and Analysis of Maps: Presidential Address.” Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), no. 14, 1948, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/621257.

MILLER, A. AUSTIN. “Climate and the Geomorphic Cycle: Address to the Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 46, no. 3, 1961, pp. 185–197. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40565260

Stoddart, D. R. “Progress in Geography: The Record of the I. B. G.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 8, no. 1, 1983, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/622270 - source of the image above

A copy of his book 'The Skin of the Earth' is shown below.



A fairly brief entry - let me know if you have further information on A Austin Miller.

Image: thanks to Professor Andrew Goudie (another former GA President) for sourcing the top image of Arthur Austin Miller for me, along with some other Presidents - much appreciated.

Update August 2021

Interesting tweet with a family connection added here, with his daughter Lindsey:

This XR rebel is Lindsey - daughter of Arthur Austin Miller, author of Climatology & geographer at Reading Uni @UniRdg_GES. She was delighted to hear meteorology is still going strong there, tho she wasn't aware of @ed_hawkins climate stripes.@XRebellionUK #ExtinctionRebellion pic.twitter.com/2eW134vyKy

— Dr Varyl Thorndycraft (@VarylT) October 9, 2019

Updated October 2023

He was linked with Section E of the British Association - a very important aspect of the development of geography which is a thread running through the careers of quite a few GA Presidents.

In I956 he became President of Section E of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and was a member of the Association's Committee until 1965.

It sounds like he would have been up for a pint...

He co-authored this article from 1930.

An interesting story about a paper of Miller's that got rejected from the journal of Irish Geography: read the full paper here

http://78.137.164.74/~geograph/irishgeography/v37-1/herries.pdf

He had a daughter called Shirley who graduated from New Hall college, Cambridge.

Thought for the Day

Arthur Austin Miller, 1948

Miller, A. Austin. “The Dissection and Analysis of Maps: Presidential Address.” Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), no. 14, 1948, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/621257

3.1.33: Progress in Geography - the Record of the IBG

There are references to a whole host of GA Presidents in this piece by David Stoddart.

Many former GA Presidents were involved in the formation of the IBG.
This article outlines the involvement of a whole range of geographers including Alice Garnett, Ogilvie Buchanan, Wooldridge, Stanley Beaver, H J Fleure and Arthur Austin Miller. You will be familiar with many of those names from previous entries on the blog I hope.



A key figure in the formation of the IBG was C. B. Fawcett, pictured here.

The first meeting of the IBG was held on the 3rd of January 1933, when C B Fawcett was elected as President, Arthur Austin Miller was elected as Secretary and Treasurer.

Ogilvie Buchanan became President in 1953.

There were Annual Conferences with Presidential and other lectures once again. I like this description of Sidney Wooldridge's lecture, which I may need to have a go at finding...








Here are the Presidents up to the merging with the RGS:



Plenty of GA Presidents there.

References

Stoddart, D. R. “Progress in Geography: The Record of the I. B. G.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 8, no. 1, 1983, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/622270

The GA and the Second World War - an introduction

I came across an article by Rex Walford in 1993 called 'Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum' which provided more details on the activities of the GA during the First World War and also the Second World War.

This also provided more information on Mackinder himself.
Fleure, in his 60th Anniversary look back also mentioned this period, which has also appeared in the biographies of Presidents from that time.

The start of the war saw a decline in membership, and branch activity ceased. "The shadow of war fell in 1939" according to Fleure.
One additional challenge for the GA during the Second World War was that membership dropped as teachers enrolled to fight in the various armed forces. Bombing in London meant that the conference moved out of the city of London too, away from the LSE. 
The GA tried to hold its annual meetings and continue publishing the journals, although they were made shorter due to a lack of printing materials and capacity.

In an air raid on Manchester, in December 1940, the High School of Commerce was damaged by a huge fire, and the Library and Office were only saved from disaster, according to Fleure, "by the courage and devotion of a caretaker called Mr. Sim who brought the racing flames to a halt by keeping a hose at work for hours, while he was supposed to be away from duty".

T. C. Warrington was asked if he would like the Presidency in 1942 in recognition of his long and valuable services during the early period of the war. He was to hold the role for several years. The GA Conference was held in Exeter in 1942 as a consequence.

In the first post-war Annual Conference, there was a debate on the future of Geography, and the war was mentioned by A Austin Miller, who was to become President.




One development after the war was the arrival of the Secondary Modern School, as outlined by Boscow.



Reference

Walford, Rex: ' Mackinder, the GA in Wartime and the National Curriculum' (Geography, Vol 78, 1993)https://www.jstor.org/stable/40572493

Fleure, H. J (1953) https://www.jstor.org/stable/40564702

Boscow, H. “GEOGRAPHY IN THE SECONDARY MODERN SCHOOL.” Geography, vol. 32, no. 1, 1947, pp. 13–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562541.
“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Conference Discussions on the Future for Geography.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 50–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563427.

I'd love to know more about the GA during this period in history.