CHAPTER I - THE FATHERS OF ENGLISH GEOGRAPHY

Summary

The Royal Geographical Society completed the fiftieth year of its existence on the 16th of July, 1880, and its fiftieth anniversary meeting took place on the 31st of May, 1880. In order to celebrate this auspicious event, and also to supply a useful means of reference to Fellows, I have been commissioned by the Council to write the present brief history of the Society. My plan is to give, in four introductory chapters, a condensed view of the ways and means by which the work undertaken by the Society was performed previous to the date of its formation, and of the circumstances which immediately led to its being brought into existence. The fifth chapter contains a history of the original formation of the Geographical Society. The sixth and seventh chapters are devoted to memorial accounts of the Presidents, Secretaries, and other leading members of the governing body. The eighth and ninth review the career of the Geographical Society with reference to the expeditions which it has helped, or actively promoted, including grants-in-aid, and awards in recognition of the services of eminent geographers and travellers. The history of the various publications of the Society, of the rise and progress of the library and map-room, and of the educational measures adopted by the Council, forms the subject of the tenth chapter; and the eleventh reviews the progress of the Society as regards members, finances, places of meeting, and house accommodation.