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.

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...

From the archive: B B Dickinson letter from May 1893

Visited the archive in Solly Street earlier this week.

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.

They included a letter sent by B B Dickinson to Hugh Robert Mill, who seems to have been addressed as Mill, and which was sent just a week after the meeting where the GA was founded, explaining that the meeting had taken place.

B B Dickinson May 1893.pdf from GeoBlogs

There was also a set of facsimiles of early documents, including a list of attendees at the meeting where ideas for geography teaching were discussed.

There is a list of those who were unable to attend but who had showed an interest. As you can see, these were public school masters generally. The first thing that was discussed was the use of the optical lantern, and ideas were shared for effective use of lantern slides. 

This is linked with the Geographer's Gaze project which is coming soon to the GA website.

1964: Crone's article on Geography in the 20th Century

In 1964, the librarian of the RGS, G R Crone wrote a chronology of geography in the 20th Century with some excellent details on the development of the subject, and prominent mentions for quite a few former GA Presidents.



There are references to many GA Presidents and their contributions, including Herbertson and Mill, Steers, Stamp and Roxby.
Also some familiar diagrams on the development of the region, and some images of people from the time.
Well worth a read.

References

Crone, G. R. “British Geography in the Twentieth Century.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 130, no. 2, 1964, pp. 197–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1794582.

1932: Dr Hugh Robert Mill

Last updated July 2023

Hugh Robert Mill was a Scottish Geographer and meteorologist, and a very important figure in the history of the GA and the RGS, as well as a Polar historian.


He was born in Thurso in Caithness, and educated in Edinburgh.
Follow this link to see an image

As with other Presidents of the GA, there is a strong connection with other organisations, notably the RGS, where he was Librarian from 1892. At this time, the RGS was based at 1, Savile Row in London.

There was also a strong exploration link as well, as with several other GA Presidents.

He was particularly linked with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society as well, when it was founded in 1885. This brought him into contact with all the main travellers of the day, as Mill was particularly involved with the RSGS throughout this time.

He held the post of secretary to the Royal Geographical Society during the Society's involvement with the leading British Antarctic expeditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He was a friend and confidant to Scott, Shackleton, and especially to William Speirs Bruce, who led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04 (Wikipedia entry)

Early in the century he also became President of the British Rainfall Association. That's an Association I could get behind.

He published a very useful compilation called 'Hints to Teachers of Geography on the Choice of Books for Research and Reading' in 1897. He actually gave copyright of this book to the GA, which started off the GA's publishing work.

This can be read on this Internet Archive entry along with other of Hugh Robert Mill's books.
Here's a spicy little entry.





In 1921, he gave the Herbertson Memorial Lecture to the Manchester Branch of the GA. I have also had that privilege - in 2008. His was on the Value of Regional Geography.



Herbertson himself (see my earlier blog post on Herbertson in 1915) was grateful for Mill's help with his own work on the Oxford OS Sheet which formed part of his courses. He used the approach that Mill had used on his own local area of SW Sussex, which was the first to do an in-depth study of an OS sheet "from the viewpoint of the teachers' requirements".


In 1923 he produced the first full-length biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton, a noted explorer and who was also connected with the RSGS. If you can find a copy be prepared to pay around £500. He wrote this with the assistance of Shackleton's widow.

He also wrote the introduction to Shackleton's book "The Heart of the Antarctic' about the 1907-9 expedition.
In his Presidential Address, he started with a nice image of the significance of geography.

The Address was called "An Approach to Geography", and he described geography as being like a picture of the world in the opening lines.



In 1934, Hugh Robert Mill gave another address to conference which is well worth reading. This time he had a focus on Scotland.
He was also connected with Imperial College.

#OnThisDay 1861: British geographer and meteorologist Hugh Robert Mill was born (image @RGS_IBG) pic.twitter.com/vpnNXxlSOG

— Imperial College (@imperialcollege) May 28, 2016

He also had a connection with Antarctica, and the SPRI.







He has a glacier named after him in Antarctica, a branch of the Beardmore Glacier.
Frank Debenham, who we will meet in several decades time, also had some land named after him in Antarctica.

His likeness is also shown on a medal which is awarded by the Royal Meteorological Society for research into rainfall.

Mill died in 1950, in his 89th year: another GA president to live to an old age. I hope he set a precedent for future Presidents.

He also published his autobiography, which would be worth obtaining to find out even more about his time at the GA.

 There is apparently a copy in the Fleure collection that he donated to the GA.

He also left a legacy to the GA, which helped ensure its financial stability at a crucial time.

When he died, Balchin reminds us, he had been associated with the GA from the start - over 50 years of service to the Association.

References

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Robert_Mill - shared under CC license and extracts used on this page.

Edited to add the GA Presidency role.

MILL, HUGH ROBERT. “ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” Geography, vol. 18, no. 1, 1933, pp. 1–16. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40560362.
Internet Archive searches. http://www.archive.org

Archibald Geikie: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951000910377x;view=1up;seq=7

Obituary: Brown, R. N. Rudmose, and H. J. Fleure. “OBITUARY: Hugh Robert Mill.” Geography, vol. 35, no. 2, 1950, pp. 124–127. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563009 

From the above:



Mill, Hugh Robert. “The Value of Regional Geography.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 11, no. 2, 1921, pp. 7–19. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555902

Please get in touch if you have anything further to add.

Updated October 2019

While investigating some resources for the entry on a later president, Percy Maude Roxby,  I came across a chronology of Geography in the 20th century written by G. R. Crone, at the time the librarian of the RGS, and it had an image of Hugh Robert Mill as shown below.... a fine moustache - perhaps I need to grow one for my Presidential year...

The article also outlines how Mill wrote the entry on Geography for the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, which means that he could provide his own thoughts on what the subject actually was...

Source of image: 
Crone, G. R. “British Geography in the Twentieth Century.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 130, no. 2, 1964, pp. 197–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1794582. - available to read with a free JSTOR account.

Mill wrote an autobiography which was called 'The Life Interests of a Geography - an experiment in Autobiography'.

This was published privately by friends in the USA. 

A copy was presented to the Association - I tracked it down in the archive. A signed copy.

Details of this are provided in an article by another former GA President T C Warrington. 

Update: I found some letters related to this in the GA archive.



It seems his final years were one of reflecting on what he had achieved against a variety of challenges.



Warrington, T. C. “THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF HUGH ROBERT MILL.” Geography, vol. 32, no. 4, 1947, pp. 166–168. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562610.

Not only was he a connection right back to the early days of the GA, when he died in 1950, he also left what is described by another future President: Alice Garnett as a bequest made from Mill's will which helped reduced anxiety about rising costs, and staff salaries

Source: Garnett, Alice. “GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” Geography, vol. 36, no. 1, 1951, pp. 57–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563090.

JSTOR articles: https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=hugh+robert+mill&filter=



Mill, Hugh Robert. “Proposed Geographical Description of the British Islands Based on the Ordnance Survey.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 7, no. 4, 1896, pp. 345–356. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1773547

and discussion afterwards
Wilson, Charles, et al. “Proposed Geographical Description of the British Islands Based on the Ordnance Survey: Discussion.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 7, no. 4, 1896, pp. 356–365. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1773548.

Updated November 2019

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N81mDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT67&ots=RtCfAEEQvA&dq=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&pg=PT79#v=onepage&q=charles%20close%20OS%20geographer&f=false




Updated December 2019

I found another reference to his autobiography while researching Frank Debenham

H.R. Mill, Life interests of a geographer 1861-1944: an experiment in autobiography, self-issued 1946, 122. 
In print Mill felt compelled to refute media characterizations of the expedition as an “advertising stunt” as “quite unjust” – although the presence of two Boy Scouts on its crew – chosen from a nationwide competition in cooperation with the tabloid Daily Mail – might truly be described as one aspect of the expedition that was ahead of its time. 
Mill, The life of Sir Ernest Shackleton (London: Heinemann, 1923), 271. The competition to attract the Scouts is described in Frank Wild and Alexander H. Macklin, Shackleton’s last voyage: the story of the Quest (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1923), 14-15

In it, he described Shackleton's last voyage to the Antarctic.

ABE BOOKS has a wide range of books written by Mill. He seems to have been prolific
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=hugh%20robert%20mill&cm_sp=det-_-bdp-_-author

Mill and Debenham seem to be tied up in a number of things connected with the SPRI.
The thesis by Peder William Chellew Roberts in 2010 features a number of references to Mill.

A book by Charles Withers quotes Mill's memories of his childhood, which perhaps shows an early interest in Geography.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DGRrF0CV8BYC&lpg=PA194&ots=ALTTdk_XQs&dq=Life%20interests%20of%20a%20geographer%201861-1944%3A&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=Life%20interests%20of%20a%20geographer%201861-1944:&f=false



New image

Updated April 2021

A book that I came across...

Last updated August 2021

Wed 27 July 1921 #OTD #Shackleton watches a #cricket match at John Rowett’s Sussex home, between members of Quest #expedition and the Estate team. Geographer Hugh Robert Mill is there too. And RS Clark ex #Endurance, Scottish international cricketer @CricketScotland #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/yRW9smFQRG

— Quest Chronicle (@QuestChronicle) July 27, 2021

I found a copy of a self-published autobiography in the archive of the GA which had lots of interesting snippets on Shackleton, the 'Titanic' and his time at the RGS, including how he funded the payment for the statue of Shackleton that sits outside the RGS.

https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/jagger/1.html

Last updated August 2022

I discovered a bath of letters which had been written to 'Mill' as he seems to have been referred to in most of the letters from the great and the good of the GA. These were passed to the GA in 2000 and now reside in the archive. There are pictures of quite a few of them in this Flickr album.

There are quite a few from the time that he was asked to be the GA President for 1932 and he seems to have been quite reluctant at first.

This letter from B B Dickinson sent in 1931 expresses his thanks when Mill finally said that he would take the role on.

And here's one from Fleure in May 1931 asking him to come and talk about his proposed Presidential theme and mentioning some of the people who had been invited and others who couldn't make it.

One was Professor Gerhard Schott who it turns out was a renowned German oceanographer.

Also a famous geologist Percy Fry Kendall.

Apparently Sir Wilfred Grenfell was out of the country - probably in Newfoundland.

A prolific letter writer and who travelled a great deal it seems. 

Mill was GA President 90 years before my own tenure. 

The Classification of Geography
Author(s): Hugh Robert Mill
Source: The Geographical Journal , Feb., 1898,
(INCLUDING SOMALILAND) pic.twitter.com/5ckCSmsotd

— Mustafa yousef (@Mustafa82211464) March 24, 2022

Updated April 2023

Some more detail on Mill in this post on the Facebook group I am a member of called 'Sir Ernest H Shackleton Appreciation Society'. Mill has featured a number of times in fact.

Updated July 2023

The RMetS Award named after Hugh Robert Mill was awarded to Ed Hawkins this year, originator of the important Climate Stripes.

Delighted and honoured to receive the 2022 Hugh Robert Mill Award from @RMetS for the Rainfall Rescue project.

Congratulations to all the winners: https://t.co/Cm3VlVB89e https://t.co/JJUNpZRn6d pic.twitter.com/W0t5SCcs5a

— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) July 19, 2023

1893 - 1897: The no-President years

Updated: August 2022

On the 4th of April, 1893, a letter was sent to a number of geography educators informing them of a meeting which was to be held in Oxford.
It was signed by a number of prominent geographers of the time.

Image: Copyright Geographical Association

A room was found by Halford Mackinder, who was Reader in Geography at the University of Oxford, and the group met in the new Common Room at Christ Church college.
The meeting was held on the 20th of May, 1893, and during that meeting the Geographical Association was founded.
More can be read in an article written by Peter Jackson in 2018.

For the next four years of the Association, there was no President however, with an Honorary Secretary and various committees running the Association as it found its feet and started to attract members.

The original ideas of sharing resources started to develop in this early meeting, lantern slides in particular were part of what was called the 'pictorial method'.

Between 1893 and 1897 there was no GA President as the post didn't exist.

B.Bentham Dickinson (of whom more to come in a future post) was Honorary Secretary (1893-1900)

He had collected over 230 catalogued lantern slides to start the process of sharing these, along with lesson notes.

The first AGM was held at the Colonial Institute in London in December 1894, by which time membership stood at 50. These meetings weren't helping Grammar schools become aware of the existence of the Association, which needed to become more active in this area. As Dickinson was a working teacher, an extra pair of hands were needed. An assistant was appointed in 1895 in the shape of  J.S Masterman, who had retired from teaching at University College School helped out until 1900, when Masterman became Treasurer.

At this time, when there was no President, there were 4 questions which drove a lot of the activity and discussions of Association members and officers:

Balchin, in his Centenary history of the Association lists them:

1. Should examination papers in geography be prepared and/or reviewed by experts?
2. Should a knowledge of physical geography be an essential feature in a course in Geography and in any subsequent examination, and if so what should be the syllabus?
3. Should one ask for a knowledge of the whole world in general or for a more detailed knowledge of a continent or region?
4. Should geography be a compulsory subject for some competitive examinations?

You can perhaps guess what the answers to the consultation were...

A number of specimen schemes were published by the Association, who also requested that geography form part of what we might now call the Common Entrance Exam (although the request was turned down initially)

Dr Hugh Robert Mill (who will also get his own entry in due course), published a very useful compilation called 'Hints to Teachers of Geography on the Choice of Books for Research and Reading'
This can be read on this Internet Archive entry along with other of Hugh Robert Mill's books. This was an interesting observation from the footnote of the introduction. It gives the address of the RGS at the time, on Savile Row, and also the correspondence address for the Secretary's assistant Mr. Masterman.


It is also interesting to read some of Hugh Robert Mill's thoughts in the book.

Read more about the initial meeting here, in a piece by Alan Kinder and Nick Lapthorn (the latter will have his own entry on this blog in due course as a Past President)

In 2018, a group of Geographers was invited to a special meal at the venue where the Association was founded.
Images from that event can be seen here.
Here is the CEO, Alan Kinder in the same room where the association was founded, during the 125th Anniversary year.


Image copyright: Geographical Association / Bryan Ledgard
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/972/41597586484_9f605f41b7_b.jpg 

References
W.G.V Balchin: 'The Geographical Association, The first Hundred Years' (GA, 1993)

Update (June 2019)

Perhaps the definitive account of this period of the GA was written by H. J. Fleure, and can be read on the JSTOR by subscribers to 'Geography'
Access it here.

Update
Brian Bentham Dickinson shared his reminiscences of this period later (in 1931)
It can be read here.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40557794

He described the first meetings of the Association, including the initial founding meeting in Oxford.

The first formal meeting of the GA was held on August 3rd 1893 at University College School, then at 16 Gower Street, with the Headmaster M. H. W. Eve in the Chair. 

Venue is shown below on Google Earth - near the British Library / Bloomsbury.



I found some letters in Hugh Robert Mill's archive relating to this period and they have been posted separately.