From the archive - Fleure to Mill 2 - Christmas 1933

Another letter from H J Fleure to Hugh Robert Mill. I love these old letters in the GA Archives. I plan to go up to Solly Street this coming summer to spend a day delving into someof the boxes that I didn't manage to get into last time I went, which is too long ago, and take lots more pictures. 

This was the era when Fleure was in Manchester rather than Aberystwyth, and he is sad that Mill is no longer chairing GA meetings, but says that:

 "the Association is now, I hope, on its feet and able to walk erect"

This was down to some financial prudence from W.A. Cadbury.

The death of T.W.Sowerbutts of the Manchester Geographical Society is also noted.

He finishes by noting the growth in people taking geography as a subject in examinations. A promising trend.

From the archive - Fleure to Mill

A letter from H J Fleure to Hugh Robert Mill, sent in 1932 thanking him for attending a gathering. The letterhead is interesting too.

Spring Conferences in the 1950s and 1960s

More images of finds in the GA Archive in Solly Street. I need to spend some more time exploring these documents to see who was involved in presenting the sessions and any other secondary details locked away in their contents... All I had time to do was capture their front cover showing the different venues and Presidents overseeing them e.g. the Spring Conference of 1962 was hosted by Stanley Henry Beaver at Keele University.

These are the front covers of some of the programmes from back in the day. Part of the albums on my Flickr account.

Also a Summer School brochure. Another initiative that no longer takes place. These were organised from the GA's HQ at the time: the Park Branch Library. In 1959, they took place in Spain and Switzerland.

From the archive - Dudley Stamp Memorial Service

I need to get back to Solly Street and spend a little more time in the archives. 

I came across the details of Dudley Stamp's Memorial Service in one of the boxes of files.

It was held in November of 1966.

From the archive - correcting proofs and an invitation

 I hope to perhaps get up to Sheffield for a root around in the GA archives at some point during the summer as I did last summer. I took some pictures, and not sure I've shared them all yet, so there follows some posts with images of some findings.

Two contributions featuring the handwriting of A.J. Herbertson.

From the archive - letter to Fairgrieve

Occasional images taken in the GA archive.

This an image regarding a Geography Society set up at St. Marylebone Grammar School from 1946.

Read more about Fairgrieve here.

Keltie, Mill and de Rougemont and the Australian affair

A find in the GA archives from the papers of Hugh Robert Mill - correspondence with Leonard Huxley. It seems he and John Scott Keltie were drawn into a strange affair involving an apparent trip made to Australia which was reported in a magazine.

This website provides a little more detail on the controversy, which included an apparent sport called turtle riding.

De Rougemont’s story begins with his birth as Henri Louis Grin, in Switzerland in 1847. In 1875 Grin came to Australia where he bought the pearling cutter, Ada. The vessel was reported missing in 1877 and the wreck discovered several months later near Cooktown. But what had happened to Ada’s master? Grin’s story of survival was incredible: he made claims to have sailed 3000 miles as the sole survivor of an attack by Aborigines at Lacrosse Island.

After this incident Grin moved regularly, changing jobs and identities. He married and then deserted his wife, Eliza. He worked as a dishwasher, waiter and photographer. 

In New Zealand he resurfaced as a spiritualist before arriving in England in 1898. 

Emerging now as Louis de Rougemont, Grin reinvented himself and his story to a fascinated public. The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont as Told by Himself was published in 1899 and contained incredible tales of his adventures as a castaway in North-West and Central Australia.

De Rougemont’s book was an instant sensation – and caused a huge uproar. He began touring and giving lectures to scientific and exploration societies such as the British Association for the Advancement of Science where he was greeted with fascination and, of course, disbelief. 

De Rougemont refused to demonstrate the Aboriginal language skills he professed to have learnt and could not specify on a map where his adventures had taken place. Among the stories so vividly described in his book were tales of single-handedly fighting alligators, the devoted deeds of his Aboriginal wife Yamba and his horror of cannibal feasts. Of all of the fantastic stories included in de Rougemont’s ‘memoir’, however, the one that caused the biggest outcry by far was his claim to have ridden turtles – many believed this to be simply impossible.

There is more about him here. It sounds like a tale worth following up.

From the archive: T C Warrington to HRM in 1938

I visited the archive in Solly Street during the summer holidays and made some great discoveries.

I was able to access some letters from the personal collection of Hugh Robert Mill, received between 1893 and 1944. They were given to the GA in 2000 by Arthur Hunt, who received them from L J Jay's widow. 

L J Jay was a former GA librarian.

This letter was sent by T C Warrington to Hugh Robert Mill in 1938. Warrington was President later but at the time was Chair of the Library Committee, and the famous town planner Sir Patrick Abercrombie was President. He was requesting some information about why the RGS got involved with education... I would quite like to have seen the reply.

Warrington to Mill about the GA.pdf from GeoBlogs

It's also interesting to see the header of the paper that is used, which still has Sir Halford Mackinder as the Chairman of Council, and Fleure as Honorary Secretary and Editor. This was a time just before WWII when the connections with the GA's origins were still strong.

It's also interesting to see the mention of 'Local Branches in Educational Centres throughout the Country with Affiliated Associations in N. Ireland, S. Africa, Burma, U.P, India and Ceylon'.

U.P is presumably United Provinces.

I perhaps need to find out more about these Affiliated Associations. There is some 'decolonising' research and work to do here.

From the archive: J S Masterman in the Alps

I visited the archive in Solly Street last week and made some great discoveries.

I was able to access some letters from the personal collection of Hugh Robert Mill, received between 1893 and 1944. They were given to the GA in 2000 by Arthur Hunt, who received them from L J Jay's widow. 

L J Jay was a former GA librarian.

I came across a letter to Hugh Robert Mill from J S Masterman Esq. who was representing University College School at the first meeting of the GA in 1893.

As with several other early members, officers and Presidents of the GA, including Douglas Freshfield, they were involved with the Alpine Club.

This letter describes an ascent in the Alps. Masterman was staying in the Hotel Nesthorn in Lötschthal. This seems to have disappeared, as has the Schwarzegg Hut. This is in the area close to the Eiger and other classic peaks including the Jungfrau, which Masterman climbed. He also climbed the Finteraarhorn and the Schreckhorn - both impressive peaks with aretes and other glacial scenery. There is also description of glaciers and moraines.

Masterman climbing letter to HRM.pdf from GeoBlogs

The trip is not without issues, such as this problem on the way to Diablerets and Aigle.

The days before Gore Tex...

Centenary Royal patronage in 1993 - the Centenary year

In 1993, Princess Anne visited the GA's Centenary conference as a result of an invitation, which I came across when looking in the GA Archives earlier in the week. 

She was asked to be Patron of the GA's Centenary celebrations. I came across a number of original letters relating to this visit.

Here's the invitation to her, written by Simon Catling from the GA Archive - copyright with the GA as with all archive images, newspaper and journal extracts etc.

I also found the original version of the image below, which has been reproduced elsewhere.... I recognised Simon Catling on the right but not the other two gentlemen. 

It turns out that the person on the left in this image is Paul May, who was teaching at Wickersley Comprehensive School at the time. This was the school I went to (and left in 1982 to start my degree).

Here's the caption that I came across:

She is seen holding a copy of the GA's 'Teaching Geography' journal, and also a copy of W G V Balchin's Centenary volume, which has been a major source of information for many of the entries on this blog.

There was a report on the visit in the GA News. I came across a complete bound copy of all early issues of GA News.

Princess Anne spoke for 25 minutes, and pointed out the value of Geography in several different ways. 

Source:

Boardman, David, and Michael McPartland. “A Hundred Years of Geography Teaching Towards Centralisation: 1983—1993.” Teaching Geography, vol. 18, no. 4, 1993, pp. 159–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23754550. Accessed 19 Aug. 2022.

From the archive: Lord Meston's Address in 1934

I visited the GA Archives in Solly Street earlier this week and made some good discoveries.

One of the things I discovered was from Lord James Scorgie Meston, who was President in 1934.

Lord Meston's Address to a GA group in Glasgow was published in the Scottish Educational Journal in 1934.

Here is the address, in two pages.

There are a few interesting sections - this one shows how what might be seen as powerful knowledge dates...

What was the question of Memel? 

I had to look it up and discovered a link with the League of Nations - another institution that the GA has close links with.

From the archive - technology in 1934

I visited the GA archives in Solly Street earlier this week.

Here's an example of educational technology from 1934 from the pages of the Scottish Educational Journal.

Spring Conference Programmes

A few from the archives at Solly Street.

Spring Conferences were a theme for some decades. Some well known names and former Presidents involved in these particular events. More detail to come as time permits once I visit Solly Street again.

The last one was held in the year I was born. Note the address of the GA at the time: at the Park Branch Library on Duke Street.

Also note Marguerita Oughton, who has been mentioned on the blog.

Images for Warrington

Another find from the GA Archives at Solly Street. In 1938, Thomas Cotterill Warrington was seemingly asking a whole range of GA volunteers to send him images from wherever they were travelling, or perhaps of specific locations for a book that he was compiling. I discovered a whole stack of replies to his request. This envelope was sent by Stanley Beaver, who was later to become GA President. At the time, the GA was based in Manchester as you can see from the address on the envelope.

This was labelled as mid-Severn. There were several pictures in the envelope, which also included pictures of Ironbridge Gorge from Stanley Beaver taken in 1938. Here's one below. The quality of reproduction is really good on these little prints.

Here is a letter from Percy Rowley, who was the Honorary Secretary of the Shewsbury and District Branch at the time, accompanying some images that he had provided.

And here are some images which were sent by James Fairgrieve, showing the South Wales valleys and coal mining villages.

I will return to these images on my next visit to Solly Street and investigate further.

Useful additional colour for the 'A Geographer's Gaze' project.

Thomas Cotterill Warrington was GA President from 1942-1945.

GA Worcester Branch Programme - 1978-9

 From the GA Archives at 160 Solly Street.

Down in the stacks

After over two years, I was able to head to Solly Street earlier in the week to do some of the research that I would otherwise have been doing throughout the creation of this blog.

In the 'basement' (although there are other lower floors) sit the rolling stacks which contain quite a bit of archive material which has so far been catalogued and placed into archival boxes and filing systems and given reference numbers. 

These include lots of papers and documents, including the W G V Balchin papers, which were used to help create the centenary volume published in 1993. 

I was able to find a number of books and other documents which will be added in to some of the existing posts, and also go towards new posts. Some very exciting finds. Here's a catalogue of Norwegian slides, probably taken from images taken by James Fairgrieve.

Brian Ellis

Updated July 2022

Brian Ellis has been a great supporter of the GA for many years and held a number of important positions on the Governing Body and in other areas including being part of the Governing Body and acting as a Trustee for many years.

He has been the Honorary Treasurer, a very important role (currently carried out by Bob Digby) for many years, and this role in itself is extremely important to the everyday working of the GA.

He has attended a great many GA Conferences, and been supportive of the GA in many different ways as well.

He has been a member of the GA for a remarkable 65 years.

I am currently involved in a project which has financial support from Brian. Details of this important new offering from the GA will be appearing on the GA website shortly and in the GA Magazine, and also on this blog, as it draws in contributions and involvement from other former Presidents as well.

The project is called A Geographers' Gaze.

Image: Brian (left) with John Halocha (former GA President) on the right in ManchesterCopyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association