David R Wright

Not a GA President, but someone bound up with the work of the Association in many ways is David R Wright. He produced a series of best selling map books and atlases, and also worked as a PGCE tutor at the University of East Anglia, which was where I first met him in the early 90s. As you can see from the article below, he was also another geographer associated with St Catharine' College (and always remember to spell that with an 'a' by the way...) and to have Gus Caesar as a tutor. Gus was very much connected with a whole range of former GA Presidents including Margaret Roberts.



He contributed to a range of GA publications and articles, always on the theme of mapping.

The last time I saw David was at the Royal Geographical Society in 2008. He was receiving an award, as was I. He was unwell at the time, and sadly died the year after.

The following text and the accompanying image are copyright RGS-IBG

David Wright, who died on 20 November 2009 after a battle with cancer, was a geographer and author whose work inspired children around the world.

David graduated from Cambridge University and then trained as a teacher, undertaking an MA in Geography in Education from London University, Institute of Education. He taught in Stevenage and Pittsburgh before moving to Norfolk in 1969 as a lecturer in Geography at Keswick Hall College of Education, which was later merged with the University of East Anglia, where he worked for 12 years. He took early retirement in 1994 to further his research and writing, becoming a self-employed author, school inspector, adviser and consultant.

Throughout his career David was a champion of the use of equal area maps in teaching and in publications of all types and his (W)Right World Map was launched in 2007. He also advocated the use of stamps in engaging young people with an interest in places and examples of a virtual journey using stamps can be found on Discovering the Arctic 

I have this pencilled in for an activity in my new KS2 Schemes which I am developing with colleagues in a unit called 66 North.

Throughout his career David’s concern has been to stimulate children’s interest in the world by creating pupil-orientated approaches to teaching geography and innovative ways of linking geography, environmental and sustainable development education, all rooted in his experiences of many different parts of the world.

David was a past chairman and president of the Norfolk branch of the Geographical Association and his contribution to geographical education was acknowledged in 2007 when he was awarded the accreditation of ‘Chartered Geographer’ by RGS-IBG. In 2008 he was awarded the ‘Ness Award’ by RGS-IBG for his work championing the wider understanding and popularisation of geography through his work with children.

David's obituary on behalf of the Geographical Association was written by Margaret Roberts and published in 'Geography'. It has often been the job of GA Presidents to have that sad duty.

David also wrote a book in the GA-published series 'Theory into Practice'.

It was called 'Maps with Latitude'

Reference
https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/alumni/landmark/1/landmark1.pdf - p10

Obituary: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00167487.2010.12094301

RGS-IBG Obituary: https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/david-wright-(1939-2009)/

As always, if anyone has memories of David please get in touch, or add a comment. Many people will have used his work and books I am sure.

Sir (Henry) Clifford Darby

Clifford Darby was never a GA President, but he was associated with the GA in some ways, and was certainly a significant figure in British Geography.

He was present at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the GA's Cambridge Branch, as featured in a previous blog post.

This piece from the British Academy gives a detailed biography of his life and geographical achievements, which were many.
(PDF download)

He was able to gain a scholarship to Cambridge from his village in Wales where he was born in 1909. He lived in lodgings as he couldn't afford the college lodgings. His tutor was former GA President Alfred Steers.
He was also connected with several other former GA Presidents.

Early in his academic career, he was chosen to assist Frank Debenham with some research in Southern Africa. When he returned he used his experiences in his other work.
His dissertation was on the role of Fenland in English history. His early work was a little deterministic, but he reworked it later for a different emphasis on the changing landscape and the draining of the Fens. An area of personal interest given the location of my school in Ely. Not everyone at the University was as encouraging - I liked this story:

His supervisor was Bernard Manning - not the comedian.
He was involved in conversations between the GA and the Historical Association following a joint meeting on "the new historical geography" in 1932. He shared the Common Room with a range of interesting characters including M.R. James (who also wrote about East Anglia)
He also assisted George Philip in the production of their atlases.

During the Second World War, as shown above, he joined many other geographers in helping with the war effort.

In 1945, he took over from another former GA President Percy Maude Roxby at the University of Liverpool.
He took over from Alfred Steers on his retirement in 1966 at the University of Cambridge, having also spent time at UCL (an insitution with strong connections with many former GA Presidents)
He died in 1992.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clifford-Darby
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publishing/proceedings-british-academy/87/darby-henry-clifford-1909-1992/

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 Dick Lawton mentioned the influence of Roxby and other geographers including Clifford Darby and Bill Mead on his own academic career at the time.

He says they taught him not only about geography, but how to be a geographer...