'We speak of geography not as a barren catalogue of names and facts, but as a science that ought to be taught in a liberal way, with abundant appliances of maps, models and illustrations...
We look to the Universities, not only to rescue geography from being badly taught in the schools of England, but to raise it to an even higher standard than it has yet attained'
J.S. Keltie, 1871 - RGS
Last updated November 2023
John Scott Keltie is someone whose name is well known beyond the sphere of Geography, and also had a strong connection with the Royal Geographical Society as well as being President of the Association for a year, at the start of the First World War. He was a fierce advocate for Geography.
He was another person involved in this period of change in the Association when the plan was to bring in distinguished outsiders with geographic interests to strengthen the standing of the Association.
Keltie was the author of the
Keltie Report on education. This was a 150 page report which Keltie had been asked to produce 30 years earlier.
This explored the education system: assessment, curriculum and other aspects, and was influential in bringing about some changes. It was complimentary of the work being done at elementary level, but not as much about the work of secondary geographers. Keltie visited schools in a number of European countries as well as a range of schools across the UK when compiling his report, which Rex Walford's book provides more detail on.
This document from a Times obituary provides more details on the impact of the report:
His comprehensive report, the result in large part of personal investigation in many European counties and the United States, was the basis of that continuous action on the part of the society which has produced such valuable results. Geography, no longer despised among us, has now a sure footing in the schools at Oxford and Cambridge, where the diplomas are coveted, and the subject has a place in the degree examinations.
Even the Colonial Office now requires from its officials in remote regions a knowledge of map-making. There are lectures in nearly all the English and Scottish universities. In the elementary schools the subject has made vast process from the repellent and useless geography taught some 40 years ago, while it is now a recognised place in many of the secondary schools. Text-books, maps and appliances of all kinds have been improved, and practical work in the field is common in many schools.
In this movement Keltie played a constant and prominent part, as also in the gradual introduction into this country from Germany of the modern conception of geography, which no longer confined to an arid knowledge of the position of towns, rivers, and capes, has become a science dealing with the earth's surace as the physical basis of all human activity. In "Applied Geography," first published in 1890, he dealt usefully with this subject of anthropogeography, which he had urged and expounded in magazine articles for many previous years.
Keltie was born in 1840 in Dundee, and went to school in Perth, before studying at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and completing some studies.
In the 1870s he became the editor of
'Nature': which remains an influential journal today.
In 1883, he joined the RGS, and became heavily involved in its activities. When he became GA President, he was also the Secretary of the RGS.
Malcolm Wise delivered an address to the GA and RGS in 1986, when he talked about the legacy of Keltie. There is a link below to the full text of what he had to say about Keltie's time in position (and before)
During Keltie's Presidency, membership grew to over 1100, despite the start of the First World War. The impacts of the War became more pronounced the longer it lasted, and the next few entries on the blog will mention some of these impacts. The GA during Wartime would be a suitable subject for a blog of its own I'm sure.
From the Archives hub page, I learned that Keltie was also at the start of the GA's Journal offerings, which remain so important today:
The new monthly Geographical Journal appeared in 1893 and was under Keltie's editorship until 1915, and joint editorship until 1917.
He resigned as secretary of the Royal Geographical Society in 1915, was elected to the council in 1917 and became vice-president of the society in 1921. He was knighted in 1918 and died in London in 1927.
His Presidential address was called 'Thirty years' progress in Geographical education' and reflected on the work since the 1880s, partly improved by the impact of his own report.
This piece makes interesting reading. Keltie starts by saying that now that the GA is in it's 21st year, it has perhaps come of age.
He mentions a Mr. Rooper (who I need to find out more about) who apparently suggested the creation of the journal 'The Geographical Teacher' and helped to fund it.
He paid tribute to Douglas Freshfield, Halford Mackinder and Professor Garwood (who all get their own entries), and described the thousands of pounds the RGS had paid to help subsidise the new Geography courses that were appearing in part due to the influence of the GA and its officers. He talked about the rise of textbooks and other media to help teachers improve their practice over the previous thirty years. There was still work to do at this point, as not all universities recognised Geography as an honours subject.
He also provided some useful comments for those entering the 2019 Young Geographer of the Year competition, to a degree. I think I would add the word NOT to the sentence below... ie. 'NOT of value':
"Geography has a much greater commercial value now than it had thirty years ago. Most young men and many young women, have got their living to make, and there are a limited number of posts in which a sound knowledge of geography is of value, and these not merely in the teaching profession..."
He describes the decision made in 1905, when the Board of Education issued the Regulations for the Teaching of Geography in Secondary Schools, and said that "not less than two periods of school work and one of home work" were to be allotted to geography. It had to be taught for four years, including "the geography of the whole world" rather than just sticking to 'one or two particular continents for examination purposes: an early example of 'teaching to the test'.
I am particularly interested in the next phrase that Keltie uses.
Geography, he said, had changed "
from being classed as memory work which could be put into the hands of any teacher, geography became a reasoning subject requiring individual work by the student and
sound knowledge by the teacher..." The scientific method was vital to the teaching of geography he said.
"Geographical material is being used to stimulate intelligent enquiry and as means of mental discipline rather than as information to be committed to memory"- think about today's knowledge rich curriculum 'focus' by many...
Geography
"provides not only the intellectual discipline of a science rightly studied, but also the human interest and sympathy of the most inspiring literature".
He describes Geography as "a department of investigation which deals with a field untouched by any other department - the Earth as the Home of Humanity'.
(All quotes above from Keltie, 1914)
Keltie continued to be active in the field of Geography for many years after his term as President, as can be seen from these entries. The Keltie archive is held at the
Scott Polar Research Institute, so I may make a visit there at some point.
I don't feel I've quite done Keltie's contribution justice yet, so will continue to work on this entry, as with the others.
References
The Geographical Journal
http://www.leedugatkin.com/files/2314/0655/4787/wise.pdf
- source of image above
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scott_Keltie
Wikipedia entry edited to add mention of the GA Presidency role, as I do with all the Past Presidents.
Wise, M. J. “The Scott Keltie Report 1885 and the Teaching of Geography in Great Britain.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 152, no. 3, 1986, pp. 367–382. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/632810.
Presidential Address: KELTIE, J. SCOTT. “THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 7, no. 4, 1914, pp. 215–227. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555979.
Walford, R (2001) - pp.59-63
Keltie, John Scott, 'Report to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society of Geographical Education', Supplementary Papers of the Royal Geographical Society, 1.4 (1886) pp. 439-554
GILBERT, E. W. “Andrew John Herbertson 1865-1915: An Appreciation of His Life and Work.” Geography, vol. 50, no. 4, 1965, pp. 313–331. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40565956.
Updated July 2022
Connections with Shackleton.
And welcoming Amundsen:
Updated August 2023
I've been exploring the BAAS Section E influence at the start of the 20th century and uncovering the work of many Presidents, including Keltie.
From the Withers et. al. article:
Charles W. J. Withers, et al. “Geography’s Other Histories? Geography and Science in the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1831-c.1933.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 31, no. 4, 2006, pp. 433–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4639988. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.
Updated November 2023
The Times Obituary - apparently he enjoyed playing golf.
Correspondence:
https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsny/id/24565/
He also appeared on a cigar label - I'm not sure whether any other GA President had that honour...
https://www.valleyviewcoinsandcollectibles.com/sir-john-scott-keltie-cigar-label-p/426.htm
