Thought for the Day

From 100 years ago.... James Fairgrieve.

"Anyone who leaves school without geography as part of their education cannot be considered to be fully educated..."

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.

Professor Reginald Crawshaw Honeybone

A name to conjure with and someone who worked at the Institute of Education and later in Tanzania and also presented at the GA Conference in the past.

An obituary written by Norman Graves was published in Geography

He was trained by James Fairgrieve and also served on GA committees including the Standing Committee for Visual Aids in the teaching of Geography. He worked with Brian Roberson and I Molly Long, who were of course heavily featured on the blog back in the day, with Molly being a former President of the Association.

Source

Graves, Norman. “Professor Reginald Crawshaw Honeybone CBE, 1913-2002.” Geography, vol. 87, no. 4, 2002, pp. 367–367. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40573771. Accessed 25 Jul. 2022.

Reginald wrote a number of books, some with Roberson and also with George Joseph Cons - a President who 'never was' sadly.

GA Magazine - featuring the blog

Good to see this GA Magazine article featuring this blog - although I was asked to write it so knew it would be in there. It's in the Autumn 2021 issue, which can be downloaded by GA Members - physical copies will be arriving any time now.

The image is a cartoon of James Fairgrieve which was sent to me by the archivist of William Ellis School, which has some strong connections with the GA.

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.

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.

1945 GA Conference

I am grateful to Alastair Owens, who will be GA President for 2022-3 as many readers will know, for finding and sharing images of this programme from the 1945 GA Conference which he came across earlier.

As shown here, the 1944 conference had had to be cancelled due to falling bombs...

The 1945 Conference was the first for a while. Thomas Cotterill Warrington was the President: he served from 1942-5 so was the last President to serve more than a year. The Conference was held at the City Literary Institute in Holborn, London.

The conference was held in early January, as they used to be before the move to April.

There are some sessions which sound really fascinating, and I would love to have been there... Tea in the refectory sounds fun too.

There are some familiar names there as well, many of whom have featured on the blog already.

The Conference was opened with a lecture on 'Post-War Europe' by Sir Walter Layton.
He was an economist, and lectured at Trinity College.

The lecture is available here, as it was published in a future issue of 'Geography' later that year:

Layton, Walter. “THE FUTURE OF EUROPE.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 44–50. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563426. Accessed 15 May 2021.

This was followed by a lecture on fruit growing from Raymond 'Bush'.

At 2pm a Symposium featured a range of other future GA Presidents: Leonard Sydney Suggate and Leonard Brooks (who would both become President in the 1950s) which was chaired by the legendary James Fairgrieve. 

The first day ended with a session on the Geography of Poland, actively involved in the conflict that had just ended.

Text from Wikipedia:

Equally the 2nd day started with a session which probably referred back to recent military service, with Brigadier Ralph A Bagnold on the sand dune of N E Africa. He had already made a crossing of the Libyan Desert in the 1930s. During the Second World War, he was a soldier in the British Army, in which he founded the behind-the-lines reconnaissance, espionage and raiding unit that was named the "Long Range Desert Group", serving as its first commanding officer in the North Africa Campaign.

After the war Bagnold continued make significant contributions to the understanding of desert terrain such as sand dunes, ripples and sheets. He developed the dimensionless "Bagnold number" and "Bagnold formula" for characterising sand flow, and also proposed a model for "singing sands". In 1971 he received the Wollaston Medal, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London, and in 1981 the David Linton Award of the British Geomorphological Research Group (named after another former GA President). He lived to the age of 94.

The session on the Future of Primary Geography featured Olive Garnett (see her entry) and also Mrs. Katz (who got a mention in my Charney Primary Geography conference presentation as she chaired the Primary committee when it launched. It was chaired by G J Cons, who had been due to be the President in 1961 but sadly died in 1960.

Here is part of the contribution of Olive Garnett.

“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Conference Discussions on the Future for Geography.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 50–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563427. Accessed 15 May 2021.

The session on the Future of Secondary Geography had some interesting participants.

“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Conference Discussions on the Future for Geography.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 50–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563427. Accessed 15 May 2021.

I looked back at 'Geography' to try to find some outcomes from this conference in the journal and found the report of the conference and links to some of the lectures:

Thomas Cotterill Warrington was also asked to be President for another year at the end of the conference in the business meeting.

References

Wikipedia entry on Sir Walter Layton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Layton,_1st_Baron_Layton

Image Wikimedia

Raymond Bush article:

Bush, Raymond. “FROST AND THE FRUITGROWER.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 3, 1945, pp. 80–86. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563438. Accessed 14 May 2021.

Brigadier Ralph Bagnold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Bagnold

Image Wikimedia

“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1944.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 1, 1945, pp. 18–19. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562425. Accessed 15 May 2021.


Thanks to Alastair Owens for the images. Hopefully more documents like this will come to life when I can next get to Solly Street and get into the archive.

1996: W(illiam) Ashley Kent

Updated August 2023

Ashley Kent had a long career as an academic geographer.
As with quite a few other former GA Presidents, Ashley Kent worked at the Institute of Education for many years.

I own a copy of the book whose cover is shown below, which has proved useful in the past, and has several chapters written by a number of other former Presidents as well. Like many of his books, it has run to several editions.

His PhD thesis was on the adoption of CAL (computer assisted learning) and acts as a useful summary of the development of IT in Geography classrooms - this connects with the work of another President: Peter Fox, (and I will discuss his role at the appropriate time). See the link at the end of the post to download a copy if you are interested.

He also wrote an influential book with Michael Bradford (another former President, who sadly died in 2019) called just 'Bradford and Kent' by the many teachers who used it. I mentioned that book in a recent blog post.

He was also part of the authoring team of the Oxford Geography Project, which I used back in the day when I first started teaching. Copies of this can still be obtained second hand.

Ashley proved elusive to track down for some further information for some time, from the start of my blog writing. 

I was able to swap e-mails with Ashley earlier this year, and he provided me with further information, which is now included below:

I was born in 1945. 

I attended St. Catharine's college, Cambridge - as did at least three other GA Presidents including Derek Spooner. 

My teaching career began as a student teacher at St Dunstan’s College, Catford where Brian Fitzgerald was head of department and Neville Grenyer a member of staff…both became HMI’s!

I then taught at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, Elstree where my colleagues included John Rolfe, Neville Grenyer, Rosie Grenyer and Clive Rowe.

I was then head of department at John Mason School, Abingdon with Eleanor Rawling as a close colleague. What a powerful department that must have been!

Eleanor and I then moved to the Geography 16-19 Project at the Institute of Education with Michael Naish.
I then became a lecturer and eventually a professor and pro-Director at the Institute of Education.

My major textbooks were the Oxford Geography Project written by the Haberdashers’ team for years 7-9; and two textbooks written with Michael Bradford: Human Geography: Theories and their applications (1977) - and Understanding Human Geography: People and their changing environments (1993). 

Both were aimed at A level and first year university students. 

All published by Oxford University Press…and fortunately sold quite a few copies!?

I joined the GA in 1969 so have been a member for over 50 years!

Further details from his CV:

He has taught in a variety of secondary schools; the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the UK’s

Open University and was Associate Director of the Geography 16-19 Project a nationally funded

curriculum development project.

He has longstanding professional and research interests in: curriculum development and evaluation;

innovation and change (the focus of his PhD work); teaching strategies including fieldwork; the

marketing and image of geography; the school/HE interface; information technology, including

remote sensing; developments in human geography; 16-19 geography; initial teacher education;

stereotyping and bias; and environmental hazards.

He has directed a number of research and development projects including: Project HIT (Humanities

and Information Technology); Remote Sensing in the Geography National Curriculum Project; Centre

for ‘A’ level Curriculum Support; Eurogame Project, a large scale European funded multi media

development; Geography 16-19; Learning Geography with Computers; YoungNet; DUNES; and

pillar leader of the HERODOT Project.

On his involvement with the GA, Ashley sent me this resumé:

He has been fully involved with the Geographical Association (GA) since 1969. He was on GA

Council for 15 years and has been its President. He was a member of COBRIG (Council for British

Geography) and has been its chairman. Over the years, he has been engaged in a number of

geography education research projects, both in the UK and for the International Geographical

Education (IGU), Geography Education Commission. He has presented papers at IGU conferences

across the world and was both a full member of the IGU Geography Education Commission and a

former chair of the British Sub-Committee. He has published widely in geography education and

education both for professional and academic audiences. This has included a number of successful

school and university textbooks.

The common thread in his career has been an involvement and passion for education at a variety of

levels and specifically curriculum development and teacher education.

I tracked down his PhD Thesis from 1996, which was titled:

"Process and Pattern of a Curriculum Innovation".

The innovation in question was introduced at the start:

The innovation in question is the use made by secondary school geography departments of computer assisted learning.

Ashley mentioned 2 key documents that sum up his approach to Geography

‘Geography’ October 1997 ‘Challenging Geography’----my Presidential Lecture presented at the Institute of Education

KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021. 

James Fairgrieve featured in the Presidential Address, where Ashley outlined his life and also the strong connections between the IoE and the GA. It is well worth reading to get an idea for the links and the changing nature of Geography. 

Ashley provides additional detail on Fairgrieve's life.

His inaugural professorial lecture in 2004 entitled ‘Windows on Geographical Education’….published by the University of London Institute of Education…2004

He was the tutor on the IoE's MA in Geography Education for many years. This went online from 2001, having been offered at UCL since the 1960s

He contributed to an IoE publication on retired academics in 2009, and was described as follows:

Ashley Kent retired as Professor of Geography Education at the Institute of Education, University of London - the culmination of a lifetime as a geography teacher.

“Exciting demanding, relevant and worthwhile – geography prepares pupils to critically understand and fully participate in the changing worlds in which they live” — Ashley Kent

In 2003, Chris Kington asked a number of former Presidents what had sparked their passion for geography. He lent me the letters and Ashley replied to Chris.

He talked about a "gradual realisation" that geography was for him. His geography teacher at school was described as "rigorous - a bit terrifying and gave us lots of autonomy...". He also remembers taking part in the 2nd Land Use survey, at Pilling Marshes and realising that it was all 'rough grazing'. He remembered his PGCE year and the influence of Walford and Fitgzerald et al. He also remembered his first year teaching at Haberdasher's Aske.

Many thanks to Chris Kington for the loan of the letters.

Ashley told me about his connections with Hull University and Derek Spooner, with whom he led celebrations of the life of Michael Bradford (far more on Mike to come as we get closer to the present day)

He also had memories of my own PGCE tutor at Hull: Vincent Tidswell. He told me:

Vincent I knew through his work and the ‘new’ geography ....his Pattern and Process in Human Geography was followed by Keith Hilton’s Process and Pattern in Physical Geography. 

Keith was a colleague of mine at the Institute of Education....and knew Vincent through working at Hereford College of Education. 

Vincent also had links with Brian Fitzgerald who I met at St Dunstans College. 

That was for me as a keen young man/geographer....a really exciting time...we felt very much at the frontier of the ‘new’ geography, both new in terms of content and pedagogy. 

Oxford Geography Project was really at the leading edge....as were the Schools Council Projects....GYSL and 14-18 ...and the one I was very much part of...the 16-19 Project. 

People like Brian, Rex et al were at the forefront....it was great fun being part of it! 

The first book Mike and I wrote was a direct effort to help teachers to keep up to date with the ‘new’ geography then in several school and university syllabuses. 

Of course Mike and I were helped by being a part of Cambridge and US developments....we went to Madison Wisconsin after Cambridge...where a great deal of that stuff was going on.

Exciting times, and Vincent was very much part of that. I like to think he passed on a little of that love for exciting new approaches and pedagogies to his trainees, of which I am proud to have been one. I remember using GYSL in my first job in January 1988 at John Flamsteed School in Denby, Derbyshire.

Ashley also shared some memories of the next important phase in the GA's History: the move from Fulwood Road to Solly Street, where it has its HQ to this day. Ashley is amongst the Presidents and former staff who were involved in locating the GA's new premises. That story will be told next.

Image from GA News.

Update January 2021

Some memories of his Presidential conference from Ashley Kent.

In my Presidential Year we had the Conference at the Institute on Bedford Way, which I thought was appropriate given the long-standing links between the IOE and the GA. The Presidential Dinner was held at the Imperial Hotel on Russell Square. My guest of honour was the Crown Princess of Thailand: a much revered member of their royal family: very environmentally aware and active. He had been suggested by Professor Philip Scott: an extraordinary and alternative academic from SOAS. 

The assembled diners were kept waiting by the Princess, who had been having tea with Prince Charles at Highgrove and then visiting SOAS.
We were kept waiting by the guest of honour for quite a while...so much so I suggested more booze was supplied to all the waiting guests.

On her eventual entrance/arrival the assembled throng, on the advice we were given, all stood up and did the slow handclap, which apparently in Thailand is a mark of real respect.

She was accompanied by two armed generals and sat next to me at the top table and the generals became anxious ( I was told by folk sitting with them at one of the tables) when I engaged in a lively/animated story involving props, including a scroll given to her in memory of her visit.

It was all right on the night! 

Is there anyone who was there and has their own memories of this event?

References

List of papers on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2021831879-Ashley-Kent

http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n86036437/

PhD Thesis: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33677738.pdf

Professorial lecture: https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/citizenship/windows-on-geographical-education/

KENT, ASHLEY. “Innovation, Change and Leadership in Geography Departments.” Geography, vol. 91, no. 2, 2006, pp. 117–125. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41555403. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.

Presidential Lecture, exploring the life of James Fairgrieve

KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.

I would be pleased to receive any further details of Ashley Kent's time as GA President.

Updated August 2023

A link with the forthcoming GA President (as I write this) for 2023-24: Denise Freeman.

20 yrs ago today, I started out on a journey...I was looking fw to it, but didn’t realise how amazing it would turn out to be. Today, in 1999, I started my PGCE at @IOE_London with David Balderstone, @DavidMLambert1, Ashley Kent and Shelia King. Thank-you for what you started!

— Denise Freeman 🌎🙋🏻‍♀️ (@geography_DAF) September 20, 2019

UCL IoE and the GA

Updated January 2021

There has been a long association with UCL IoE and GA Presidents over the years, and also the Chief Executive Professor David Lambert of course.
Some Presidents were involved in teacher training at the Institute of Education, others were academics. Others gave lots of service to the GA but were not Presidents, such as Bertie Roberson, who served on the Secondary Section and other committees for many years while working at IoE

In 2004, there was a Centenary celebration and reunion and several former GA Presidents were there, notably Bill Mead, who is the next President to be featured on the blog.

A Geography Education MA has been offered for over 50 years.

Also worth exploring the following GA Presidents who have a connection:
Norman Graves
Molly Long

Ashley Kent and others... 

When I started to volunteer and serve on the GA's Secondary Phase Committee in 2004 (which seems like a lifetime ago now) we used to meet on Saturdays in the geography lab at UCL with the wave tank and other equipment, on the Bedford Way site. I also led quite a few CPD sessions, and attended others, in the hotel opposite the IoE.

I also made a few visits to the office shared by David Lambert and John Morgan, and later Alex Standish, over the years, including when I worked on the GeoCapabilities project. I attended several seminars there over the years as well, including a memorable one with Michael Young and Margaret Roberts, and also David Lambert's Professorial lecture "Lost in the Post" for which I produced the visuals for David's presentation.

James Fairgrieve was perhaps the most famous IoE colleague of them all, and featured in the Presidential Address of the 1996 President Ashley Kent, where he outlined his life and also the strong connections between the IoE and the GA. It is well worth reading to get an idea for the links and the changing nature of Geography. Ashley's Presidential Address was given at the Institute of Education. Fairgrieve worked from 1912-1935 at the IoE (previously known as the London Day Training College) and became GA President when he retired.

Reference

KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.

He provides additional detail on Fairgrieve's life.

Source:
https://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/news-events/news/alumni-news/former-students-newsletters/FSN%2015.pdf  (PDF download)

All memories of UCL and the GA welcome as we move into the final year of the blog project and enter the 1980s...

1978: Professor Norman Graves

Last updated October 2026 with some sad news - please see the end of the post.

Norman Graves' name will be known to many for his involvement in the authoring of school textbooks over many years. His other significant contribution was in the development of the IGU.

Norman taught in a number of secondary schools in his career.
He was also involved with the University of Liverpool and latterly the Institute of Education, from where he retired 30 years ago.

He turned 100 in January 2025. 

Norman told me in an e-mail that: "I am conscious that the year of your birth, 1963, was the year I arrived at the Institute of Education to head the Geography Department."

He was also mentioned early on in David Mitchell's PhD thesis:

In 1979 Norman Graves produced a model of ‘curriculum planning’ in geography which places the responsibility for the ‘curriculum problem’ with the teacher. 

‘Essentially a teacher’s curriculum problem should be that of deciding what he is going to try to get his students to learn.’ (Graves, 1979: 1)

Norman attended a seminar at the Institute of Education during my time working for the GA, as part of a seminar series organised by the late Duncan Fuller, which also had inputs from Andrew Bonnett and Michael Young. That was a good day of learning for me.

Here are just a small selection of some of the books that Norman authored during his long career:

Geography in Education;
Curriculum Planning in Geography;
Geography in Secondary Schools,
The Education Crisis;
School Textbook Research: the case of geography;
Editor: Teaching Geography 
Series; New Movements in the Study and Teaching of Geography; 
New Unesco Source Book for Geography Teaching;
Initial Teacher Education;
Learner Managed Learning;
Working for a Doctorate;
Education and the Environment.

Norman Graves was GA President at a time when there were some financial issues for the Association. It had a deficit of around £10 000 and efforts were made to try to reduce expenditure to cope with the situation at the time.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40569009?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

I contacted Norman by e-mail in August 2019, and he passed through the following information to me, along with the image which is included at the top of the blog post. The image shows Norman speaking at the 1976 IGU Conference in Leningrad, Russia.

Thanks to Norman for the following information on this entry, which he provided for me. He is the 2nd 'oldest' GA President to be alive, (and also the oldest as it happens I believe) and therefore able to offer me his own personal perspectives, following Sheila Jones' memories from her time as President in 1975 in an earlier blog post.

Norman was born in Sainte Adresse, Seine Inférieure (now Maritime), France, and lived there briefly before moving to the UK.

Education:
Ecole Communale de Garçons de Sainte Adresse,1931-35
London: Finsbury Park Junior School, 1935-36;
Tollington Park Central School, 1936-38;
Highbury County Secondary School, 1938-41;
The Polytechnic, Regent Street 1945-46 (part-time);
The London School of Economics and Political Science, 1946-49 (2 years part-time, 1 year full-time) - the LSE links with the GA are very strong
The University of London Institute of Education, 1949-50 (full-time). Subsequently, part-time study for higher degrees, 1952-63.

Employment
Norman started working life in 1941as a "Youth in Training" in the Post Office Engineering Department, then as a Technical Officer in the Engineer in Chief's Circuit Laboratory until 1948.

Teacher of Geography and Economics at East Ham Grammar School for Boys, 1950-54; responsible for Geography at Borough Beaufoy Secondary Technical School in Lambeth, 1954-58; Head of Geography and housemaster at Malory Secondary Comprehensive School in Lewisham,

Good to see another GA President who had spent time as a teacher of geography.

1958-60: Lecturer in Education at Department of Education University of Liverpool 

1961-63: Senior Lecturer in Education

1963-74: Reader in Education at the Institute of Education.

In an e-mail communication, Norman told me that he
1974-78: Professor of Education
1978-80: Robert Ogilvie Professor of Geography Education
1980-90: Pro-Director Professional Studies

When he became GA President he was working as Professor of Education at the IOE (UCL)



Norman told me:
"I entitled my Presidential Address "Contrasts and contradictions in Geographical Education". In the 1970s, I expressed the tensions which existed between the scientific nomothetic approach manifest in the then conceptual revolution, and the ideographic and humanistic approach epitomised in Yi Fu Tuan's book 'Topophilia'. "

He also said:
"Contradictions were evident in the attitudes of teachers who had difficulty in reconciling the instrumental aims of education, for example, coaching students to pass examinations, and the intrinsic mind-opening aims of guiding students to question the validity of certain theories, for example the Davisian view of landscape evolution."

This is an ongoing issue for many - dealing with the question of "is this on the test?" and making time for those additional discussions and criticality which helps build geographical thinking.

Norman told me: "I joined the GA as a student and maintained my membership throughout my career. I found it useful to read its publications and attend its meetings and Annual Conferences where I could discuss with other teachers our teaching problems."

Here's Norman's Curriculum Planning Model, which has stood the test of time as far as I can see.

Here's a publication that Norman produced for the GA during this period.
Of his association with the GA Norman said:

"The GA was a professional association of geography teachers whose meetings and publications provided me with in service development, which at that time was not provided by my first employers. I subsequently participated in the "training college" section and contributed occasional lectures, but my main contributions were to the GA's publications. For example: articles in" Geography"; A Tropical Peasant Holding in Ceylon in Asian Sample Studies (169); Geography in Secondary Education (1971); Geography in Education: a Bibliography of British Sources (with Clare Lukehurst, 1972); Geographical Education in Secondary Schools (1980); I also edited the series "Teaching Geography" (1968-72)."

Norman told me of his wider work in the field of Geographical Education which included his chairmanship of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union, his membership of the Schools Council Geography Committee and its Geography 16-19 Project led by his colleague, Michael Naish. 

A report on the work of the Commission on Geographical Education was written by Norman as Chairman and published in 'Geography' in 1980

Graves, N. (1980). THE COMMISSION ON GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION. Geography, 65(3), 230-231. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569278
He also recalls being asked to lecture to various GA local branches in Oxford, Bristol and Leicester, and attending the Scottish Geography Teachers Association conference in Edinburgh - something I've done many times myself, and now with a reciprocal arrangement with the SAGT for our conferences.

He also sent some memories recently about his links with the previous GA President Stan Gregory:

Stan Gregory and I were students in the Joint School of Geography which was then shared by Kings College and the LSE, though he did a straight Geography degree while I did a BSc (Econ) which actually included a course in statistics which proved useful during the quantitative revolution. 

Our paths crossed again in Liverpool when I joined the Education Department, while he was in the Geography Department headed by Professor Steele at that time.

Along with Michael Naish, he wrote an important publication for the GA called 'Profiling in Geography', which was published in 1986.

Norman was awarded the RGS's Victoria Medal in 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Medal_(geography)

A picture of Norman Graves still hangs in the office at UCL which is used currently by Alex Standish, previously used by David Lambert and John Morgan. Alex kindly took a photo of it for me some time ago and shared it with me for use on the blog.



















And here's the book that perhaps will be most well known to many of a particular age: the classic textbook that was used in schools and which was part of my own 'A' level studies. This is my own personal copy which is part of my growing library of textbooks which I have been collecting as part of this project.























References
Norman Graves (2008) Reflections on a Life in Geographical Education, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17:1, 1-5, DOI: 10.2167/irgeeed171.0

https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/history-of-education/school-textbook-research/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02736948

REF: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=44328 - mentions how the APG that I worked on, and the work of David Lambert built on Norman's work:

It develops Norman Graves's innovative work at the IOE in the 1970s and 1980s on the theory and application of `rational curriculum planning' in school geography.

Also a mention from Brian Hobbs: https://www.asdan.org.uk/blog/2013/02/19/a-geog-down-memory-lane as part of the GA's work to create an ASDAN course.

IGU:
http://www.igu-cge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-IGU-Commission-on-Geog-Education-modified-0915.pdf

GRAVES, N. (1978). Changes in Attitude towards the Training of Teachers of Geography. Geography, 63(2), 75-84. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568886
Non-GA book publications may be grouped into three groups: 

1 Text books: 

North America and Asia 1966 (with R C Honeybone), Geography of The British Isles 1971 (with John White), People and Environment 1987 (with John Lidstone and Michael Naish) 

2 Academic books on geographical education: 

eg Geography in Education (1975), Curriculum Planning in Geography (1979), School Textbook Research: The case of geography (2001); New Movements in the Study and Teaching of Geography (Editor, 1972); New Unesco Source book for Geography Teaching (Editor 1982) 

3 Academic books on education: 

eg The Education Crisis: Which way now, (1988); Initial Teacher Education: policies and progress (Editor 1990); Working for a Doctorate (Editor 1997); Education and Environment (Editor 1998)

Image: top image supplied by Norman Graves, office photo by Alex Standish, textbook image by Alan Parkinson

Please pass through any other memories of Norman Graves influence on your own practice.

Update September 2020

Norman kindly sent me a range of items to help this (and other) posts, including a copy of his article Reflexions on his career and on geography education, which was published in IRGEE journal in 2008. It contains further thoughts which has its own blog post in October 2020.

Additional details added in November 2020.

Simon Catling sent me the following memory:

"I have enjoyed reading your blog on Norman Graves, the inspiration for many of us. When I did my MA in geography education at the Institute in 1971-3 (the 3rd or 4th year it ran, I think) I was one of a group of 4 students. We had superb seminars where one of us would read our essay for that week (we wrote 24 essays over the 3 terms of the year, weekly) and then it would be debated. Alongside Norman, Molly Long, Bertie Roberson and Michael Naish were our tutors. It was a fascinating, invigorating, rigorous and very informative first year of the MA. Mick Naish supervised my MA thesis. I think that was, part-time on a Monday late afternoon, an invaluable course for my geographical education. The reading, thinking and writing was a very real education, demanding but just right.

While a young primary teacher I did two week long courses which were influential. In early 1975 I did a Place, time and Society 8-13 course run by Ray Derricot, Hazel Sumner and Gordon Elliot at an ILEA centre. In early 1978 I did an environmental course at Avery Hill College in Eltham, run by Colin Ward. Both were influential in my thinking. 

Gordon Elliott introduced me to a producer at the BBC which led from the autumn of 1975 to me being an adviser, alongside Michael Storm (who had just become the geography adviser in the ILEA), to a new series of primary geography programmes."

Check out Michael Storm's entry on the blog as well.

Updated July 2022

I prepared a paper for the IGU 2022 in Paris - the centenary event and was invited to chair a session. A link back to the work of Norman.

Archive material is also available apparently at the IoE - I wonder whether I might be able to get access to this material in the new academic year.

Interested in this box of papers, for example.

It includes handwritten notes by Elisie Beaver (the wife of Stanley?) and also mention of James Fairgrieve and also Robert Ogilvie Buchanan in these papers. They include handwritten notes on lectures related to curriculum development.

Updated August 2023

A family photo on Facebook showed Norman is still around and enjoying another French summer with family. Good news.

Updated January 2024

Again via Facebook, January 28th was Norman's 99th birthday. The oldest living GA President. Coincidentally I started a presentation at the Geography Teacher Educators' Conference with a messsage Norman sent me when I started writing this blog.

Updated October 6th 2026

Sad news today as I was made aware by an email from Frances Slater of Norman's passing at the end of September at the age of 101.

She said:

He suffered only a short illness and it is nice to think that he had spent August in France with his family.
His has been a long and distinguished career in geography and geography education.

This was sad news indeed. I had been in touch with Norman's daughter over the last few years who shared news of his 100th birthday celebrations.

I trust there will be some formal recognition of Norman's work by both the GA and the RGS.

Condolences to Norman's family in France and beyond, his friends and former colleagues.

Neville Scarfe

Updated August 2023

Neville Scarfe was an influential tutor at the Institute of Education who was connected with several GA Presidents, because of their own association with UCL. Molly Long, President in 1970 was closely connected with the Institute during her career.


A brief biography:

Neville Vincient Scarfe was born in 1909. 

In 1927 he achieved a first-class honours B.A. in Geography, at age 19 heading the honours list. The following year he acquired a teaching diploma, which from 1928 to 1931 he put to good use as senior geography master at Bemrose Grammar School, Derby. Thence he transferred to the University of Nottingham, where for four years he lectured in geography and earned a master’s degree as well. 

From 1935 to 1951 he worked as senior lecturer and head of geography at the University of London Institute of Education. From this last position he took leave of absence on war work (1939-1945), serving as director of press censorship, Ministry of Information, London. 

After the war a visiting professorship (1948-1949) at Syracuse University, New York State, and the task of co-ordinating the UNESCO International Seminar at McGill University preluded his five years (1951-1956) as Dean of Education at the University of Manitoba. From the latter position he submitted his application for the corresponding deanship at University of British Columbia.

The Neville Scarfe Education Building (University of British Columbia)

The University, in Vancouver, has a Neville Scarfe building and Lecture Theatre. 

He was Dean of Education there for 18 years and achieved a huge amount.
https://studiohub.ca/on-the-boards/ubc-neville-scrafe-lecture-theatre

He contributed an article on games in geography to 'Geography' in 1971.
His son is an actor.
He died in 1985.
I wonder what he may have made of the current status of Canadian Geography. There is an excellent Royal Canadian Geographical Society, but geography doesn't have a high status in the school curriculum in Canada.

Source:
SCARFE, N. V. “Games, Models and Reality in the Teaching of Geography in School.” Geography, vol. 56, no. 3, 1971, pp. 191–205. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40567554. Accessed 6 July 2020.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1955.tb01745.x

Neville Scarfe and British Columbia

https://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/403/521

https://educ.ubc.ca/neville-scarfe/ - biography source

Throughout his career, Neville wrote over 100 articles and gave numerous speeches on education around the world. His intuition and progressive understanding of post-war learning instilled in the Faculty the idea that teachers are made, not born. With this spirit in mind, he created rigorous, specialized streams taught by enthusiastic professors to produce dynamic and informed educators. Always an advocate for educational reform, Neville was particularly critical of the findings of the 1960 Report of the Royal Commission on Education (the “Chant Report”), calling it “contradictory and conservative”*. He took particular issue with its recommendations for harsh discipline in classrooms and the assumption that children will behave belligerently unless taught otherwise.

Image source:

http://www.marclandry.ca/Marcs_Sensory_Oasis/Play!_files/The%20Scarfe%20Papers%20Intro.pdf

Further memories of Neville Scarfe welcome - he was an important geographer on both sides of the Atlantic and I am sure there is plenty more to come.

Updated August 2023

https://educ.ubc.ca/neville-scarfe/ - biography source

After World War II, Neville Scarfe returned to the Institute of Education of the University of London, where he taught the principles and practices of the teaching of geography. This sparked his interest in the philosophy of education—this was a pursuit he continued for the rest of his life, so it was probably what could be considered his main interest.

https://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/403/522 - his influences

They included James Fairgrieve, who he described as 

"a down to earth geographer bent on assisting students to imagine world characteristics accurately, the better to imagine political and social problems"

https://snaccooperative.org/view/64845894

Scarfe was a proponent of play in education.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094056.1962.10726996

1970: Mrs. I Molly Long

Updated August 2023

Molly Long was a tutor in the School of Education at the Institute of Education. She was particularly interested in education, and the role that children had to play in their own conception of the subject.

Her Presidential Address was called 'The Interests of Children in School Geography' and as such was a rare Presidential address with a focus on pedagogy and the classroom.

She explored the sorts of activities that children said they did and did not like, following a survey which was sent out to the GA membership (an innovative move at the time.... much easier to do these days with Google Forms).

When she was younger, Molly gained a scholarship to Godolphin and Latymer School, before studying at Bedford College, London, her home city. She trained as a teacher at the University of London Institute of Education (ULIE) in 1946, and became a lecturer in teacher education in 1948.

At that time Neville Scarfe had recently been appointed to succeed James Fairgrieve as Head and sole member of staff of the Geography Department. Molly must have made a great impression on Neville Scarfe, as after teaching in schools in Reading and Beckenham, she was appointed to the Institute's staff, in 1946 as Assistant Tutor, and in 1948 as Lecturer in Education (with special reference to the teaching of geography). There are some strong links here with the history of the Association.

When I trained as a geography teacher in 1949-50, Molly Long was one of the three tutors in the Geography Department working alongside Neville Scarfe and Reginald Honeybone

(from Norman Graves' Obituary of Molly)

In 1952, Molly published work in 'Geography' on children's reactions to geographical pictures. This was a main research interest.

In 1969, it was announced that Molly would be GA President in the Annual Report, published in 'Geography'


Molly worked at the Institute of Education until her retirement in 1976.
She worked on quite a few publications, which were influential at the time, particularly following the Second World War.

Books included:
World Problems: A Topic Geography (Secondary school series)
Teaching Geography - published in 1966 - (https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780435345402/Teaching-Geography-Molly-Long-Robertson-0435345400/plp ) - a blog post on this book was added a few weeks ago - I have a copy of the book in my library.

Rex Walford describes her work with Bertie Roberson (a colleague at UCL) to produce a secondary teacher manual in the 1960s. They both employed "creative pedagogy" at a time when the old style geography was beginning to be challenged.
The preface of their teacher manual sets the tone from the outset:

"The whole trend of our argument is that children should be led to think about the subject matter offered.....the idea of geography as a 'soft option' for the unintelligent remains".

Molly's Presidential Lecture was called "The interests of children in school geography".

The 2nd chapter of her book, Rex explained, featured a 'Regional' approach. This was going to be a feature of geography for some decades to come. When I first started teaching 'A' level Geography in the late 80s, the Cambridge board specification we used was regionally based.

Molly died in 1997, and her obituary was written by the textbook author (and former GA President) Norman Graves.

I am grateful to Alex Standish from the IoE for the image of Molly, from a framed picture which is in his office at UCL - a reminder of the legacy of the past for today's teacher educators.

References
Long, Molly. “CHILDREN'S REACTIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL PICTURES.” Geography, vol. 38, no. 2, 1953, pp. 100–107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563406.

https://issuu.com/davidward7/docs/ora_newsletters_volume_iii_1990-1999 - memories of Molly Long by her husband

LONG, MOLLY. “The Interests of Children in School Geography.” Geography, vol. 56, no. 3, 1971, pp. 177–190. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40567553.

Long, Molly. “CHILDREN'S REACTIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL PICTURES.” Geography, vol. 38, no. 2, 1953, pp. 100–107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563406

Graves, Norman. “I. L. M. (Molly) Long (1916-1997).” Geography, vol. 82, no. 2, 1997, pp. 148–148. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572829

Complex Locations: Women's Geographical Work in the UK 1850-1970By Avril Maddrell

Her main biography details were sourced from this book, which has also informed numerous other entries on the blog regarding the important female contribution to the GA over the decades.



Source:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=%22marguerita+oughton%22+sheffield&source=bl&ots=xln_U09sEO&sig=ACfU3U0BVaFI8t74PC7xxPHMiijd8QoLyQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbrsfys43pAhXKQEEAHeGlCCIQ6AEwAnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

As always, if anyone has further information relating to Molly Long please let me know so that I can expand on this post.

Updated December 2020

Thanks for Simon Catling for sending through some memories of Molly:

"I have enjoyed reading your blog on Norman Graves, the inspiration for many of us. When I did my MA in geography education at the Institute in 1971-3 (the 3rd or 4th year it ran, I think) I was one of a group of 4 students. We had superb seminars where one of us would read our essay for that week (we wrote 24 essays over the 3 terms of the year, weekly) and then it would be debated. Alongside Norman, Molly Long, Bertie Roberson and Michael Naish were our tutors. It was a fascinating, invigorating, rigorous and very informative first year of the MA. Mick Naish supervised my MA thesis. I think that was, part-time on a Monday late afternoon, an invaluable course for my geographical education. The reading, thinking and writing was a very real education, demanding but just right. While a young primary teacher I did two week long courses which were influential. In early 1975 I did a Place, time and Society 8-13 course run by Ray Derricot, Hazel Sumner and Gordon Elliot at an ILEA centre. In early 1978 I did an environmental course at Avery Hill College in Eltham, run by Colin Ward. Both were influential in my thinking. Gordon Elliott introduced me to a producer at the BBC which led from the autumn of 1975 to me being an adviser, alongside Michael Storm (who had just become the geography adviser in the ILEA), to a new series of primary geography programmes."

Via Ashley Kent

My memory of Molly Long....former president and my tutor ....was my first meeting with her. 

Whilst smoking....she smoked a lot!...she asked me to sit down and asked me ‘if I was one of those new quantitative people’. 

She knew my background was the University of Cambridge then University of Wisconsin, Madison...and both at the forefront of new developments. 

She and Bertie (Roberson) had ‘nailed their colours to the regional mast’ and saw the ‘new’ geography as threatening...sadly since she was a wise and good tutor. 

The divisions were clearly evident in the split between the tutors at the time....Graves and Naish...the new guard...Long and Roberson the opposite!

Updated August 2023

Molly's 'Teaching Geography' book is available to borrow from the Internet Archive.

I also referenced Molly in an article on the GA Presidents project that I had published in Routes journal in 2021. It's well worth reading in my opinion (although I may be biased)

Olive Garnett

In 1968, the GA President was Alice Garnett.
Just before I posted the entry for her, I was made aware by Jo Norcup that she had a sister called Olive, who also spent a life involved in geography education, and was also very much involved with the Geographical Association.


This was the tweet that I mentioned.

#OTD in 1903 Alice Garnett was born. She was the second British woman to become a geography professor, pioneering the subject at @sheffielduni, and the first female President of the Institute of British Geographers. She was also VP of the RGS and President of the @The_GA. pic.twitter.com/oH6fqHIqMf

— Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (@RGS_IBG) May 15, 2020

And this was the response from Jo Norcup.

Then there was her sister Olive and all her geography textbooks (see @AvrilMaddrell)

— Dr Joanne Norcup (@jonorcup) May 15, 2020

Olive Garnett (c.1900–1982), BA, DipEd, Head of the Geography Department (1926–1965), Vice-Principal of Froebel College (1947–1961), Deputy Principal of Froebel College (1961–1965)

I found a portrait here courtesy of the University of Roehampton. It was painted by Leslie Garnett.

It seems Olive was linked with Froebel College for many years, which was known previously as the Froebel Educational Institute, and had the philosophy that children learn through discovery.

There is an Olive Garnett building at Roehampton.

She is mentioned in Rex Walford's book on School Geography in the UK.

A key book from Olive was her 'Fundamentals in School Geography' - I purchased a copy. This provides a great deal of guidance on the teaching of Geography and much which would be familiar to the geography teacher of today. At the end of each chapter, lists of suggested further reading includes plenty of former GA Presidents: Fairgrieve, C C Carter and Alice Garnett of course.



















Source:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=%22marguerita+oughton%22+sheffield&source=bl&ots=xln_U09sEO&sig=ACfU3U0BVaFI8t74PC7xxPHMiijd8QoLyQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbrsfys43pAhXKQEEAHeGlCCIQ6AEwAnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Any other information or images relating to Olive Garnett would be gratefully received.

1950s - Committees were busy, and plenty of other changes

Balchin's Centenary volume describes some of the work of the GAs Phase Committees during the 1950s, a time when financial pressures forced the GA to raise the annual subscription to a guinea from 1955.

• Secondary Schools Committee published a new handbook in 1952, then turned to producing school atlases. It's chairman for 25 years, Mr. C B Thurston, stepped down apparently 'reluctantly' in 1953.
• The Primary Schools Committee revised 'Geography in the Primary School' in 1953.
• The Public and Preparatory Schools Committee opened its membership to women teachers in 1951.
• The Training College Section organised a series of one day conferences to meet the criticism that 'much of the geography teaching in secondary modern schools was being undertaken by individuals without any geography training' (Balchin, p.43)
• Visual Aids Section produced 'The Geography Room in the Secondary School' in 1954, and started to investigate the use of OS Map extracts with aerial photographs which were to become a feature of Geography exams for decades to come.
• Two new committees were formed: Further Education (1953) and Field Studies (1954)
• The Executive Committee was continuing discussions with the BBC about geography school programming. At this time, there was a feeling that changes were happening too quickly for textbooks to keep up and that radio and TV could help.

One particular way that the GA tried to keep teachers up to date with the pace of change in the modern world was a feature called 'This Changing World' which was introduced into the 'Geography' journal in 1954, edited by Leonard Sydney Suggate followed by G. J Butland when Suggate retired to New Zealand, as described in his blog post.

The 1950s also saw the passing of several former GA Presidents who have previously appeared on the blog:

• Dr. Hugh Robert Mill in 1950 (who was closely associated with the GA from its founding)
• James Fairgrieve in 1953 (over 40 years of service to the GA)
• Dr O J R Howarth in 1954 (over 40 years of service to the GA)
• Sir John Linton Myres in 1954

These led to the appointment of other GA Presidents to come to key roles: L Dudley Stamp, E G Bowen and W.G.V Balchin.

Finally, Balchin reminds us that the 1950s were a time when the country was recovering from WWII - rationing had ceased and rebuilding of bombed cities was underway. Membership climbed steadily and the GA was settled in its new home city of Sheffield.

The Annual Conferences were still being organised by the very efficient R. C Honeybone and Dr. J H Bird and attendance was close to 1000.
Professor Emeritus E G R Taylor reached the age of 80 in 1959, and funds were raised for an annual lecture in her name.


Image: early Handbook, on display in Solly St - image by Alan Parkinson