British Geography 1918-1945

British Geography 1918-1945 British Geography 1918-1945 edited by ROBERT W. STEEL The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VUI in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge London New York New Rochelle Melbourne Sydney CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www. Cambridge. org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521247900 © Cambridge University Press 1987 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1987 This digitally printed version 2008 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data British geography 1918-1945. Includes index. 1. Geography - Great Britain. I. Steel, Robert W. (Robert Walter), 1915G99.B75 1987 910,941 87-6549 ISBN 978-0-521-24790-0 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-06771-3 paperback Contents Preface vii ROBERT W. STEEL 1 The beginning and the end ROBERT W. STEEL 2 Geography during the inter-war years T. w. FREEMAN I 9 3 Geography in the University of Wales, 1918-1948 E. G. BOWEN 25 4 Geography at Birkbeck College, University of London, with particular reference to J. F. Unstead and E. G. R. Taylor EILA M. J. CAMPBELL 45 5 The Oxford School of Geography 58 ROBERT W. STEEL 6 Geography in the Joint School (London School of Economics and King's College) s. H. BEAVER J6 7 Geography in a University College (Nottingham) K. C. EDWARDS 90 8 Geographers and their involvement in planning E. C. WILLATTS IOO 9 On the writing of historical geography, 1918-194 5 H. C. DARBY 117 I o Physical geography in the universities, 1918-1945 J. A. STEERS 138 I1 Geographers and geomorphology in Britain between the wars D. R. STODDART 156 V vi 12 Contents British geography, 1918-1945: a personal perspective J. A. PATMORE 177 Index 185 Preface This collection of essays began as a direct consequence of the work that I undertook on behalf of the Institute of British Geographers to prepare a history of its first fifty years. It was suggested to me that, while I was delving into the development of the subject in 1933, the year in which the Institute was founded, and the years immediately before then, I might also attempt an assessment of the position of geography in Britain between the wars. The idea appealed to me for I had been taught in Oxford by J. N. L. Baker who had always impressed upon me and my fellow students the importance of an app