RSGS History
The Origins of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
Professor Michael Pacione FRSGS, University of Strathclyde
This is the first
of three extracts
from Professor
Pacione’s
forthcoming
book, Scottish
Geography: A
Historiography.
Written to
mark the 130th
anniversary of
the founding of
the RSGS, the
book will provide
an authoritative
account of
the origins,
development,
and changing
nature of Scottish
Geography,
explaining the role
of the RSGS in
the promotion of
geography, and
demonstrating
the significant
contribution of
geography and
geographers
in addressing
contemporary
issues in society.
Information on
how to obtain
a copy will be
published in the
next edition of The
Geographer, which
will also include
the second of the
three extracts.
The Scottish Geographical
Society was founded in
Edinburgh on 28th October
1884, at a meeting in the
Chamber of Commerce presided
over by the Lord Provost, the
Right Honourable Sir George
Harrison, in which Professor
James Geikie proposed “that
this meeting, recognising the
scientific and general utility
of a National Society for the
promotion of Geography, resolves
that a Geographical Society for
Scotland be now formed”.
Two key figures who were
instrumental in convening the
inaugural meeting of the Society
were J G Bartholomew,
of the Edinburgh
map-makers, and
Mrs A L Bruce,
who was the
daughter
of David
Livingstone
and wellconnected
socially.
Bartholomew’s
idea was discussed at
a gathering of friends with a
common interest in world travel
and geography, at the home of
Mr and Mrs A Livingstone Bruce
at North Berwick on 20th July
1884. As Bartholomew recorded,
“the project of forming a Scottish
Geographical Society came
up rather as a sort of remote
ideal that had little prospect of
realisation. It had been proposed
before and discouraged by
various kind friends! But Mrs
Bruce’s eyes sparkled with
enthusiasm, and she said it was
just what her father would have
welcomed. As we talked on,
the possibilities became more
hopeful, and eventually, when Mr
Bruce appeared an hour later,
all difficulties seemed to vanish
under the influence of his cheery
optimism. Before midnight a
prospectus was drafted, and by
next day Professor Geikie had
given it his blessing. That was
the beginning of the Scottish
Geographical Society.”
The grand launching ceremony
took place in the Music Hall,
Edinburgh on 3rd December
1884, with an inaugural lecture
by H M Stanley who had been
persuaded by Mrs Bruce to travel
to Edinburgh from Berlin where
he had been attending the Congo
Conference. On the following day,
Stanley opened the first rooms of
the Society at 80A Princes Street.
On the evening of 5th December,
the Society entertained Mr
Stanley at an inaugural banquet
at which he proposed the toast
to the Society, which elicited
an interesting exchange with
Scotland’s own Africa explorer,
Joseph Thomson: “What can
I say more except to
wish long years
of useful
existence to
the Scottish
Geographical
Society. I do
hope with all
my heart that the
Society will not forget
their countryman, Mr Thomson,
and that if they have got any
severe or dangerous mission
to explore, they will send Mr
Thomson.” Mr Thomson in reply,
“lamented the fact that the
romance had gone out of African
exploration; that Mr Stanley
was now wandering about in the
Congo, loaded with cotton goods
and Birmingham ware, and that
if this sort of thing were to go
on he would prefer to go to (the)
North Pole, and be done with
Africa.”
Almost immediately, the Society
resolved to establish branches
at suitable centres throughout
Scotland. The first was formed in
Dundee on 26th November 1884,
with the first meeting held on
7th December being addressed
by Mr Stanley; others followed in
Glasgow and Aberdeen in early
1885. Today there are a further
nine of these local groups, in
Ayr, the Borders, Dunfermline,
Dumfries, Helensburgh,
Inverness, Kirkcaldy, Perth and
Stirling.
Within three months of its
foundation, the Scottish
Geographical Society had a
membership of more than 800,
that included distinguished
individuals from a wide range of
intellectual endeavours, and by
1912 the Society roll recorded
2,064 members. An increasing
membership was not only a mark
of the Society’s progress but
was also essential for attainment
of its objectives since, as today,
“by far the greater part of
the Society’s annual income
depends on the subscriptions
received from its members”. The
membership also supports the
Society in kind. From its earliest
time to the present, the work of
the Royal Scottish Geographical
Society has been dependent upon
the contributions of volunteers,
both as members of Council
and its various committees,
and in the more general work of
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