Robert Steel and the IBG

I've previously mentioned Robert Steel's involvement with the Institute of British Geographers.

While exploring some of the RGS' archive last week, I came across this copy of his book on 'the first fifty years' of the IBG. Sadly there was no time to  pick it up and take a look.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

Post-colonial geographies

 Download the document here (PDF link)

This document references the work of Robert Ogilvie Buchanan and Robert Steel: two former GA Presidents.

They were involved in developing universities across the Commonwealth through the 1950s and 60s.

R.O. Buchanan was born in New Zealand and came to Britain in 1925 to study at the LSE, where he was later chair of geography. Buchanan was one of the founders of the Institute of British Geographers and, like Steel, served on several committees throughout his career including the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Geographical Association and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. These connections, combined with the hierarchical and informal processes of academic appointments across Britain and the wider colonial world, put both in pivotal positions for hiring decisions in Nigeria and for geographers seeking to (re)join UK academia.  

Steel regularly received requests for suggestions for appointments from contacts working in African universities.Many of those at Ibadan were appointed on recommendation: he was referee for Terry Coppock, visiting scholar at Ibadan 1964-1965, and advised Dick Hodder (lecturer at Ibadan 1956-1962) on how to make the necessary connections to apply. He was on the selection panel for the chair of geography and head of department role, appointing Michael Barbour to the position in 1962. Steel’s archives abound with informal letters reflecting the continuing value of ‘writing to friends’ in the appointments process across the former colonies in Africa, South East Asia and the Caribbean until the 1960s.

Source: Craggs, R., & Neate, H. (2019). Post-colonial careering and the discipline of geography: British geographers in Nigeria and the UK, 1945-1990. JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY, 66, 31-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.014

It was interesting to see that Buchanan was referenced....

Buchanan was a colourful character who refused to conform to the expectations of senior university administrators. According to his colleague Pugh, Buchanan ‘had a wide range of acquaintances in Ibadan Town … and never hesitated if he saw a party of drummers heading somewhere – he would follow …’. He would wear shirts ‘made from cloth from the local market with a pattern of rosebuds or Crown birds’. His lectures touched on issues of colonialism and development, and showed signs of the more radical critiques of his later scholarship. Eventually the UCI principal deemed that Buchanan’s clothing showed he was inappropriate for the job, leading to his departure in 1951 for LSE, then what was to become the University of Wellington in New Zealand.

Michael Cross' memories

I enjoyed this account of going to Oxford University in the 1950s... by Michael Cross.

There are mentions of quite a few former GA Presidents along the way.

A few extracts

There were also, I remember, the Admiralty Handbooks. These were written by geographers in both Oxford and Cambridge during the War years to inform the military of the history, geography and culture of countries in the sphere of war.

We were all well aware of the Davisian cycle of erosion and it seemed almost to be geomorphologically 'fashionable' to look for erosion surfaces - they seemed to play such a major part in the interpretation of landscapes. Wooldridge and Morgan's Geomorphology along with Wooldridge and Linton's Structure, Surface and Drainage in South East England were necessary 'reads'. We were also made aware of a new (to most of us) hypothesis challenging Davis's, one formulated by Penck - summarised by "wearing back as opposed to wearing down". Little were we to realise that over the decades to follow another half dozen or so hypotheses would be suggested by competing geomorphologists. (I have often thought that it would be true to say that wherever two geomorphologists are gathered together, they will disagree!)

Research on frontal systems had only properly got underway in the inter-War period. Air masses were new to us. The then latest edition of Austin Miller's Climatology had what appeared to be an added chapter, Air Masses, and we were advised to buy this edition and avoid older second-hand copies without it. I find it remarkable that today it is routine for TV weather forecasters to refer to air masses in their forecasts. Similarly, most had not heard of the jet stream. I believe some empirical knowledge of jet streams was gained by fighter pilots over Japan in WW2 but it only 'filtered through' to the general public with the growth of high-level airline flights in the 1960s and beyond. During my three years I cannot recall any mention being made, detailed or otherwise, of the jet stream.

Jean Brunhes 'classic' text La Geographie Humaine, although nearly forty years old, was recommended reading, as was The British Isles by Dudley (later Sir Dudley) Stamp - aka 'Deadly Dudley'! 

I wonder why he was Deadly Dudley... as in deadly dull?

In 1954, the annual meeting of the British Association was held in Oxford and thus the accompanying volume The Oxford Region was an up to date source. Edited by my tutor A F Martin and by R W Steel, other familiar names are listed on the Contents page (Dr Steel left midway through my time at Oxford and went on to become Professor of Geography at Liverpool.)

Reference:

https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/alumni/news/181127-mcross-1950-geog.html

GA Summer Schools

While in the archive, I found a few boxes of folders of materials linked with the GA's involvement in Summer Schools.

These were held in the Summer (naturally) as an additional event at a time when the GA's main Annual conference took place over the New Year period. There were also Spring Conferences for some time.

They involved a great many of the 'great and the good' including academics and teachers. They were abandoned in the 1940s, and revived for a while in the 1950s and 1960s with many international locations for these courses which ran for 2 or 3 weeks and included travel.

Here's a description of one from 1949 in 'Geography'.

When I next head for Solly Street, my plan is to dig out the box and look at some of these events that happened in interesting locations and find out who was involved.

Source

British Geography: edited by Robert Steel (PDF download)

British Geography: 1918-1945

This book was edited by Robert Steel, who was GA President in 1973.

There are several chapters written by former GA Presidents, such as K C Edwards.

Click here to access a PDF of the book.

There is quite a bit here about the idea of regions: something tied to the work of Herbertson, Fleure and R J Unstead.

This includes terms such as 'stows' and 'tracts'.

The GA also had a committee on regions for a while. There is mention in this part of the book of Leonard Brooks, who also later became a GA President (and about whom I know relatively little), and also mentions the work of Eva Taylor, who I need to investigate in more detail I think.

1958: Professor Robert Ogilvie Buchanan

Updated July 2024

Professor Robert Ogilvie Buchanan was an academic geographer, with a particular interest in economic geography, and with a connection to the London School of Economics (as did many Presidents).

There is also another link with the RGS-IBG here in that he was a founding member of the Institute of British Geographers, along with other GA Presidents L Dudley Stamp and Stanley Wooldridge among the committee of 10 that founded it.

He was known as 'R. O. B'.

He was born in Otago, New Zealand.  

This means he has a strong connection with another GA President to come - bonus points if you can name him in advance of his entry. 

His father was a mariner, and his mother was Scottish. They were pioneer settlers of the NZ region, and he apparently travelled to school on horseback or by foot. He graduated in History and Economics rather than Geography - he had a lot in common with other GA Presidents in this respect.

He served during the First World War, in the Middle East, and on the Western Front, and was injured.
Immediately after the war, he became a teacher in Auckland. He moved to London, and studied at the LSE, graduating with a first. Following his degree, he got a job as a demonstrater with C.B. Fawcett, a name which has cropped up several times on the blog. He was a close contemporary of Dudley Stamp and Robert Steel.

He worked within Africa and also in New Zealand and with the LSE.

A description by Hugh Counsell Prince:


He contributed a piece to the 'Geography' journal as long ago as 1931, with some 'grumbles' on how geographical ideas were being presented in some publications.

He also served in World War II.

His Presidential Address was on the theme of 'Agricultural Geography', and he reflected on the choice of an overarching theme for the conference.
As in previous years, the Address was delivered at the LSE.

His interest in agriculture and industry was shown in several books which he authored and co-authored such as the one pictured here.

According to a piece in 'Geography' at the end of his Presidency, he had done a good job as GA President. He continued to be involved with the GA, for example, he contributed to a special 6th form Geography conference which was held in Bolton in February 1961, where he spoke to hundreds of 6th formers.



His obituary was written by Michael Wise, another former GA President who will appear here in due course.

A book which also involved Wise is described below:


References

Obituary: https://www.jstor.org/stable/622281?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents - written by Michael Wise (another GA President)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/622275?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Buchanan, R. Ogilvie. “SOME GRUMBLES.” Geography, vol. 16, no. 4, 1931, pp. 308–310. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40559914.

“Front Matter.” Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), no. 24, 1957, pp. iv-vii. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/621235


Briggs, K. “A Sixth-Form Geography Conference. A REPORT.” Geography, vol. 46, no. 3, 1961, pp. 254–256. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40565272

Presidential Address: BUCHANAN, R. OGILVIE. “Some Reflections on Agricultural Geography: Address to The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 44, no. 1, 1959, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40564227.

Buchanan, R. Ogilvie. “A NOTE ON LABOUR REQUIREMENTS IN PLANTATION AGRICULTURE.” Geography, vol. 23, no. 3, 1938, pp. 156–164. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40560673

GARNETT, ALICE. “The Geographical Association: ANNUAL REPORT 1958.” Geography, vol. 44, no. 1, 1959, pp. 54–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40564237
Review of the book above

If anyone has further information on this President, please get in touch.

Additional image:

Here's another image from the Flickr LSE Archive as well, an image taken in the 1950s after the earlier one. Follow the links and you can see what other LSE images are available - some other GA Presidents are included in this archive.

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Ogilvie_Buchanan,_c1950s_(4302912675).jpg

Cenotaph NZ: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/83709

Updated August 2023

References

https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999752557302121 - a book which was a shortened version of his doctoral thesis.

Updated July 2024

Buchanan was one of the Presidents with the shortest entries. I then came across an article on his involvement in Nigerian universities and other Commonwealth countries along with Robert Steel.

I was particularly interested in this section:

Buchanan was a colourful character who refused to conform to the expectations of senior university administrators. According to his colleague Pugh, Buchanan ‘had a wide range of acquaintances in Ibadan Town … and never hesitated if he saw a party of drummers heading somewhere – he would follow …’. He would wear shirts ‘made from cloth from the local market with a pattern of rosebuds or Crown birds’. His lectures touched on issues of colonialism and development, and showed signs of the more radical critiques of his later scholarship. Eventually the UCI principal deemed that Buchanan’s clothing showed he was inappropriate for the job, leading to his departure in 1951 for LSE, then what was to become the University of Wellington in New Zealand.

Source:

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/96760806/Post_colonial_careering_and_the_CRAGGS_Accepted31May2018_GREEN_AAM.pdf