Updated July 2025
Joseph Acton Morris was a geographer and educator, born in Lancashire in 1901.
He wrote a great many textbooks, which were popular at the time, and published by Hodder.
He was known as 'Jammy' to students
(because of his initials perhaps rather the fact that he was really lucky...)
He was another (quite rare) President with a strong
teaching background, along with a great interest in fieldwork, and he was associated with
Latymer School, Edmonton, Greater London.
His Presidential Address was referenced two years later by
E. C. Marchant, where he talked about the work that he had done. E. C. Marchant was also a teacher before taking up the role of President. More on him at the time...
He was
Head of Geography at Latymer before becoming Deputy Head in 1952.
He wrote, or co-wrote 15 textbooks.
He also wrote the official history of the Latymer School at Edmonton where he taught for 36 years.
He also, another link with my own GA involvement, served on the GA's Secondary Schools Section Committee (now the SPC, which I served on for 14 years on and off) for 19 years, acting as
Chairman of the committee from 1953 to 1966. This means he would also have helped support the development of the subject in schools, through the influence of the SPC. Membership, and holding the position of Chair of this committee has also taken people like
Alan Kinder to other roles within the GA of course.
In 1934, he read a paper to the Congrès Internationale de Géographie at Warsaw on the Wordsworthian idea of the beneficial influence of close contact with nature - something which is very much relevant to these times of course.
He also served on the GA's Executive committee from 1953 to 1975.
When he was appointed as President:
The appointment of a teacher was apparently "a matter of great rejoicing to the secondary school teacher membership" for it was a long time since a teacher had been President.
His Presidential Address, given in 1966 was called
"Reality in Geographical Education".
He starts by referencing A. J. Herbertson, one of the greats...
This is an excellent read, and will get a separate blog post to itself.
Here's a sample quote, where he talks about the fact that engagement is not enough... and sets out the scheme of work he devised where each lesson a member of the group got 'killed off' in an appropriate way...
I shall also be referencing this address in 2022 as well, as it helped formulate some of my ideas for my own GA Presidential theme.
According to his Wikipedia entry:
His appointment was welcomed by the large body of secondary school teachers within the association's membership and in his presidential address he called for increased resources to teach geography in schools and an emphasis on practical field trips so that children could understand that, as his obituary writers in Geography put it, "geography is reality and reality geography".
Morris was made an Honorary member of the GA in 1981, the GA's highest honour.
He contributed to an important report which was published the year after his Presidency.
“Geography in the Sixth Form: AN INTERIM REPORT OF THE SIXTH-FORM AND UNIVERSITY STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION", on which he served. This was a significant time too, with the raising of the school leaving age and a greater emphasis on post-16 education.
His obituary, published in 1988 in 'Geography', paid tribute to his work and referenced his Presidential Address.
It described him as an "avuncular, courteous gentleman with the twinkling eyes and cherubic smile, who always looked so bright and polished".
Would be lovely to try to get some more images and memories of him.
Sadly, most schools are now closed so my previous route of contacting archivists has been curtailed.
Emma Halstead from Latymer has been very helpful (an extra blog post in preparation)
References
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Acton_Morris - a rare page now for a President - some useful detail here.
He contributed to this report:
“Geography in the Sixth Form: AN INTERIM REPORT OF THE SIXTH-FORM AND UNIVERSITY STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 4, 1966, pp. 318–321. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566157.
Wikipedia lists an impressive number of publications which he contributed to:
Selected publications:
A contour dictionary. A short text-book on contour reading with map exercises. George G. Harrap & Co., London, 1945. (multiple later editions)
The land from the air: A photographic geography. George G. Harrap & Co., London, 1958. (With G.H. Dury)
The British Isles in map and diagram. Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, 1966. (With Dick Gerald Luxon)
Landscape and mapcraft: From field study to map. Collins Clear-Type Press, London and Glasgow, 1968.
London and the London region. Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1968. (Nelsons Geography Studies)
plus a whole series of Sketch Map Histories, co-written with Irene Richards.
He wrote the history of the Latymer School at Edmonton where he taught for 36 years.
Morris, J.A. (1975) A history of the Latymer School at Edmonton. Edmonton: Governors of the Latymer Foundation
From the Internet Archive
Image of flap of cover of Latymer book.
He was a master of the school from 1926-1962.
Obituary
Robson, Rosemary, and Lawrence Elliott. “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 73, no. 1, 1988, pp. 76–78. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40571348.
Books available on the Internet Archive
