British Geography 1918-1945

This book was edited by Robert W Steel and published in 1987.

There is a chapter written by GA President J Allan Patmore.

It mentions a whole range of former GA Presidents as he talks through the changing nature of geography in the interwar period. I shall post several quotes from the chapter as 'Thoughts for the Day' in the coming months.

Thanks to Justin Woolliscroft for finding a copy of this in the Hull Archive and sending it through some weeks ago.

Charlotte Simpson

Another important female contributor to the history of the GA was Charlotte Simpson. She was associated with A J Herbertson.


She had work published in the 'Geographical Teacher', and was also linked with the Le Play Society, as were many Geographers at the time (the 1920s and 30s).
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

1965: Moving to Fulwood Road

Through the 1950s. the GA's premises at  Duke Street Library in Sheffield were getting overcrowed. A donation of oak shelving from the University helped matters in 1959, but the City Fathers, who had granted the GA free accommodation decided that the permises were needed, so the GA had to look for a new home.

In 1959's Annual Report this was explained.

Balchin describes the 1960s as 'an anxious time', as several early options were rejected.

Their tenancy of the library was due to end in September 1964, and notice was served a year earlier. By late 1963, Alice Garnett had been able to secure some assistance from Sheffield University, who had bought land for building student accommodation which included a sizeable Victorian House at 343 Fulwood Road, Sheffield.

This was adopted as the postal address for the GA from September 1964.



Balchin says that the formal opening of the new HQ was on the 11th December 1965, by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, followed by lunch.

Alice Garnett talked about the impending move in her reflections in 1964 and reported on it in 1965.


After 14 years at the Duke Street Library they had a short move.
It describes the accommodation as having ground-floor accommodation for the library and editorial needs, and first floor accommodation for clerical and administrative work, along with meetings rooms, branch visits and committee meetings.

Here's a floor plan from an estate agent's booklet when it was sold


New staff were also taken on it seems.


Further HQ staff of the time were mentioned in a report from 1966.


References

GARNETT, ALICE. “The Geographical Association: ANNUAL REPORT 1958.” Geography, vol. 44, no. 1, 1959, pp. 54–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40564237
Image taken from Balchin's Centenary, photo is copyright the GA Archives

“The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 49, no. 3, 1964, pp. 346–348. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566391. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

Edith Coulthard

A mention here for Edith Coulhard. She assisted Alice Garnett as honorary secretary of the GA in the early 1950s.
She also wrote in 'Geography' about some experiments linking up with other schools and carrying out some interesting project based learning with students back in the 1940s. She wanted students to have experience of learning which would be useful for "real life".

She also reported on a 9 day study tour of Belgium accompanied by Elsie K Cook

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

Coulthard, E. M. “EXPERIMENTS IN TEACHING CURRENT AFFAIRS.” Geography, vol. 27, no. 2, 1942, pp. 69–71. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562200. Accessed 15 May 2020.

Coulthard, E. M. “A SCHOOL EXPERIMENT.” Geography, vol. 28, no. 4, 1943, pp. 117–118. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562328. Accessed 15 May 2020.

Cook, Elsie K., and Edith M. Coulthard. “ACROSS THE EAST OF BELGIUM FROM ARLON TO BEERINGEN.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 12, no. 2, 1923, pp. 132–135. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40555387. Accessed 15 May 2020.

1966: Geography in the Schools of Tomorrow

J W Morris was the HMI Staff Inspector for Geography when he gave this address to the 1966 Spring GA Conference.

Quite a lot of what he had to say still resonates today.

He described three issues which needed attending to - I wonder how many are still relevant:

The first was teacher subject knowledge and ensuring that it is up to date.




The second was cross-curricular working and thinking.



The third was also an interesting one: the role of fieldwork.

He talked about the vital role of particular GA Committees, and flagged up the work of Dr Gladys Hickman. He also mentioned the Schools Council's work at the time.

He ended with a reminder of a few familiar themes which are still relevant in 2020....

"..... if the work of teachers is to be fruitful it needs co-ordination, a regular exchange of ideas, a sharing of experience. The time is ripe for a new drive for good communications and professional unity among geography teachers in the years of change that lie ahead..."

References
MORRIS, J. W. “Geography in the Schools of Tomorrow.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 4, 1966, pp. 309–317. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566156. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Rachel Mary Fleming

Updated October 2025

Another in a succession of women who gave a great deal to the Association was Rachel Fleming. She was a great support to H J Fleure when the library and GA Offices moved to Aberystwyth and was his Assistant.

She was mentioned in Fleure's own entry on the blog as someone who supported his work and kept the library running smoothly at a time of great demand for its contents.

She did however get involved in some problematic work which is detailed later in this entry.

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

Update - October 2025

I was contacted by Vas who had located a letter for sale on eBay which was part of Aberystwyth's history.

The letter for sale was shown on the post and is included below:

It was sent in April 1921 to a Miss D M A Dickinson, who was it seems teaching at Rugby School, but had presumably paid for herself and a colleague to go on a GA organised trip to Guernsey of some kind, and is advising her to book boats and rooms for the trip.

It's lovely to see the handwriting of someone from over 100 years ago.

There's also a useful entry about Rachel Fleming here.

Miss Fleming is well known among teachers for her skill in using folk tales to impart a general knowledge of history and geography to children.

This sounds interesting.

Assistant to Professor H.J. Fleure at Aberystwyth, Miss R.M. Fleming, who had conducted research on 'half-castes' in Britain

This sounds... inappropriate... to modern geographers for certain... and very problematic. The link with eugenics is particularly troubling.

A fuller story of that report and the resulting issues, as well as he public statements on the matter can be viewed here.

Aspinall, P. and Caballero, C. (2021) Rachel Fleming’s Anthropometric Study. The Mixed Museum.

Rachel Mary Fleming is one of the category of people who are often invisible even in institutional histories, one of those who do their work with quiet devotion.

Text from some source which has been added to the Wiki entry:

"The work of the Geographical Association is still expanding rapidly, and we are all, as usual, deeply indebted to Miss R. M. Fleming, who, though without any official connection with the College, gives endless time to students to help them with problems and difficulties. It is therefore a special pleasure to state that this has been a year of very marked personal success for Miss Fleming, whose work has so long merited greater recognition. Her papers to the British Association at Edinburgh have appeared, one in the  "Scottish Geographical Magazine " (Geography and Tradition), and one in "Man" (Sex and Growth Characters in delation to Race Study). 

The latter was the subject of an evening lecture by Miss Fleming at the Royal Anthropological Institute. 

In addition to this Miss Fleming's book, "Ancient Tales from Many Lands" (1922), has had a quite unusually good reception, and has sold very rapidly

I hope it may influence not only educational methods, but anthropological research as well. 

This book is still available in reprinted versions.

It was reviewed in 'Nature' in 1922 

Miss Fleming adds in an appendix three essays in which she expounds her philosophy of the use of the folk-tale in education and the principles of selection. If any further indication were needed of the thought, wide reading, and experience which have been laid under contribution in the making of this book, it would be afforded by these essays.

Finally Miss Fleming has been invited to become one of the Secretaries of Section H (Anthropology) of the British Association. 

She has been President of the local branch of the Geographical Association during the current session.

Other publications

"The new geography". Times Educational supplement, 1920 - would be interesting to find this...

Fleming, Rachel M. 1933 A Study of Growth and Development: Observations in Successive Years on the Same Children. With a statistical analysis by W. J. Martin. Report to the Medical Research Council. London: is Majesty’s Stationary Office, Code No. 45-5-90

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown

I came across this geographer while researching Marguerita Oughton, who was a stalwart of the GA for many years, and retired in 1965. 'Ruddy' Brown or RB is described as an 'explorer' geographer. He fell out with former GA President Percy Maude Roxby over his thoughts on China.
His father was a prominent Geographer of the time, who went on expeditions to Spitsbergen and wrote popular books.
Rudmose Brown also worked as an assistant to another person who has reappeared several times: Patrick Geddes.

He wrote about the influence of Geddes and Herbertson in a paper in Geography in 1948, which I missed at the time of going through the 1940s.

According to the link below, he also raised funds for an expedition to Antarctica. It is worth reading his Herbertson Memorial Lecture from 1948 which is referenced at the end.

There is plenty more information and links in the final references as well. 




Source:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kA10CwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA15&ots=IiZwssqnSc&dq=%22marguerita%20oughton%22%20sheffield&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q=%22marguerita%20oughton%22%20sheffield&f=false

Brown, R. N. Rudmose. “SCOTLAND AND SOME TRENDS IN GEOGRAPHY: JOHN MURRAY, PATRICK GEDDES and ANDREW HERBERTSON.” Geography, vol. 33, no. 3, 1948, pp. 107–120. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40564415. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Hgx0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT47&lpg=PT47&dq=L+S+Suggate+new+zealand+geography&source=bl&ots=hSAbYtikP7&sig=ACfU3U3xTp3QcGa298y0a41c_rst3eRWtw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJk9ndgPGAAxWhS0EAHV5fCPs4FBDoAXoECAgQAw#v=onepage&q=L%20S%20Suggate%20new%20zealand%20geography&f=false

Updated August 2023

Source above:

The section on Rudmose Brown references a great many GA Presidents, plus Patrick Geddes - who was a GA Vice President.

A nice quote from J L Myres.

Source: Robert Neal Rudmose Brown - Delivered to geographers at the University of Sheffield

Scottish Geographical Magazine (Vol 30) 1914 p.467-79

1965: Joseph Acton Morris

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

https://archive.org/search?query=joseph+acton+morris

1955: GA role changing

Interesting piece in the 'Nature' review of 1955's conference.

A second party of members also attended in August the International Conference of Teachers of Geography held at Hilversum. As an outcome of this meeting tho Geographical Association's office was adopted as the headquarters for the International Union of Associations of Teachers of Geography. As the central co-ordinating body, the Association has now assumed responsibility for the development and exchange of ideas among teachers of geography throughout the world.

PDF: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1038/175198a0.pdf

The Red House

A pub which used to be on Solly St., up the hill from 160.

I guess various GA officers, staff and members would have drunk here over the decades. I popped in there myself a few times back in the day.... for a lemonade of course.
It's now a store next to new student accommodation, which surrounds Solly St. now. More on HQ later in the blog.

Other landmarks have also disappeared or changed out of all recognition, such as St. Vincent's Church, which will have its own blog post at a later date.

Ellen Jenifer Rickard

Ellen Rickard seems to have been something of a pioneer for female geographers and teachers.


Her story was told in this book by the RGS-IBG. It describes her involvement with the GA, which included a place on the GA's council - one of the first female officers. She was particularly important during the war, taking over from J F Unstead (who also had his own post on the blog a few days ago). She was also connected with A J Herbertson, as were many during that period, when they became involved with the GA. She had a great many roles within the GA.

It would be lovely to be able to source an image of Ellen Rickard.

Source:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&lpg=PT115&ots=xln_U09sEO&dq=%22marguerita%20oughton%22%20sheffield&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=%22marguerita%20oughton%22%20sheffield&f=false

An Obituary was published in 1963

Oughton, M. “WILLIAM WALLACE.” Geography, vol. 48, no. 4, 1963, pp. 418–19. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40565722. Accessed 16 Sept. 2023.

Can download the book:

https://epdf.tips/complex-locations-rgs-ibg-book-series.html

The book describes how Ellen Rickard was involved in the GA

pp.142-3 describes the work she did during the war years, which were difficult times for the GA.

1965: Miss Marguerita Oughton

Although this blog is aimed at telling the stories of the GA Presidents, there are numerous other names which reappear through the documents I've been reading, and I've filtered mentions for many of them into the blog over the last year or so.

In 1964, Miss Marguerita Oughton resigned.She had been linked with the GA for many years, and was given a glowing send off.
She was described by Rex Walford as a 'kingpin' of the GA. She gave 14 years of service to the GA as Assistant Secretary and Assistant Editor.
She was the subject of a five page tribute to her in 'Geography' by Professor Linton (President for 1964) which described the impact she had on the Association.

It would be lovely to try to source an image of Marguerita Oughton if at all possible.

On appointment she began a measure of re-organization of the work and filing in the headquarters office, but at once found herself involved in the larger re-organization required by the change of the Association's subscription year from the calendar year to the school and academic year, and by the preparation of the Association's accounts for a firm of auditors. At the same time the publication dates of Geography were changed to fit better with school and university term dates and the programme of editorial work in the office had also to be re-adjusted.

It's a reminder that over the years the GA has benefitted from so many strong female administrators, editors and other roles.

Not only did Miss Oughton have the admiration of Linton but also other prominent GA members.

Professor Wooldridge
In the early summer schools Miss Oughton played a more direct and personal part. The first, at Rhoose, Glamorgan, with Dr. Margaret Davies in 1952, was a vigorous introduction to course organization that left her with a conviction that there are few things that the Association can do for many of its members that are better worth while than the provision of practical courses in fieldwork and field teaching methods in our own countryside. 
This conviction was enhanced by the stimulating experience of assisting the late Professor Wooldridge at a summer school at Pulborough in the Sussex Weald in the following year. Of this I was to hear a good deal in my own home not many weeks later from Wooldridge himself. He confessed to being "much impressed by that young woman", who had obviously handled him, as she had handled any difficult members of the party, with firmness and sympathy, and had surprised him with what he called an "unfeminine capacity for administrative detail." It is not difficult to detect here a note of admiration and affection on Wooldridge's part that remained with him in some measure till his death.

H J Fleure

Geoffrey Hutchings
In Geoffrey Hutchings' last letter to me, written from hospital shortly before he died, contains a casual but sincere and telling tribute to her work with him. Indeed, it was the rule that Miss Oughton established easy working and personal relationships with a succes- sion of Presidents and leaders of conferences and summer schools. And it was equally the rule that she became the friend of many who would call them- selves the rank and file of the Association

After the sad and untimely death of her mother Miss Oughton lived entirely alone and so gradually fell into the bad habit of working late at the office, commonly till 8 or 9 p.m. to keep abreast of the administrative work, and taking mountains of editorial paper home to be worked through at week-ends. She had an intense loyalty to the subject and to the Association. Although at two different periods she thought of leaving it and applied for posts of other kinds, it is within my knowledge that when, in fact, posts were offered to her she refused them, rather than give up the work.

She also featured in this book in connection with Ellen Rickard. Ellen will have her own post on the blog.



References

Linton, David L. “Miss Marguerita Oughton: An Appreciation.” Geography, vol. 50, no. 2, 1965, pp. 172–176. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40565934. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020

1936: Founding of the GA Cambridge Branch

While doing some searching on Facebook for archive images of GA activity over the years, and trying to track down images of individuals, I came across this clipping from the newspaper, posted by Mike Petty, of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Cambridge Branch of the GA in 1986.


There is a lovely origin story for the branch, with Edith Butcher pictured in the middle of the photo returning from a GA conference held in Sheffield and teaming up with one the original founders B. B. Dickinson, who had retired to Cambridge after finishing teaching at Rugby School.

Good to see Rex Walford here as well as Professor Clifford Darby (who deserves his own entry later, despite not having been GA President). They also had an address from Frank Debenham to kick start the branch.

Does any other GA Branch have similarly auspicious beginnings I wonder?

1965: John Frederick Unstead

The death of John Frederick Unstead in 1965 severed a link going right back to A. J. Herbertson, who taught Unstead, and Halford Mackinder.

He seems to have had a very early introduction to geography teaching. His role was taken by a lady who will receive her own blog post next week, as we move towards a significant date in the history of the Association: the HQ move to Fulwood Road.



He was influenced by Mackinder to switch to geography from history (a very wise choice). He also tried new teaching methods, so a maverick in the tradition of Jenkins, Cassidy and Rogers. He became the Correspondence Secretary of the GA in the early part of the 20th century.



He held other roles in the GA, including the Vice Presidency.


As with many of the people around this time, it would be great to be able to source an image of John Unstead.

Reference
Garnett, Olive. “JOHN FREDERICK UNSTEAD.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–153. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566076. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Books authored by Unstead: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AJohn+Frederick+Unstead&s=relevancerank&text=John+Frederick+Unstead&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1


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

1965: Programmes for Schools

Given the BBC's current support for Lockdown learning on BBC Bitesize with David Attenborough called in as a supply teacher it's good to see some of the early geography offerings from the BBC.