William Richard Mead

William Richard Mead 1915-2014 Source: Department of Geography, University College London. Reproduced with kind permission Bill Mead died on 20 July, only nine days short of his 99th birthday. He was the leading British expert on the geography of Northern Europe and a tireless advocate for enhancing British understanding of Scandinavia and Finland. His academic output extended across three-quarters of a century, comprising two dozen books and over 150 chapters and articles. Perhaps the most influential among academics, students and businessmen was his Economic Geography of the Scandinavian States and Finland (1958). Bill was an active member of learned societies in Britain and Northern Europe, especially the Royal Geographical Society of which he was honorary secretary (1967–77), vice-president (1977–81), and thereafter honorary vice-president. He also presided over the Institute of British Geographers (1971) and the Geographical Association (1981). He chaired the Anglo-Finnish Society for three decades and participated in the Anglo Norse and other organizations promoting Anglo-Nordic relations. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994, he was also a member of both the Finnish and Norwegian academies of science and letters. He received honorary doctorates from four Nordic universities. For his promotion of scholarship he was made chevalier of the Swedish Order of Vasa, and commander of the Orders of the Lion of Finland, of the White Rose of Finland, and of the Polar Star of Sweden. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Founder's Medal in 1980. He received medals from geographical societies in Sweden and Finland. In 1979 he was elected honorary fellow of the London School of Economics. Bill was the first son of William Mead and Catherine (née Stevens). His father came from a farming family and became a shopkeeper in Aylesbury. As a boy, Bill loved to walk with him in the Chiltern Hills and across the clay Vale. He was introduced to geography by teachers at Aylesbury Grammar School, of which he became Foundation Governor in 1981. Teacher training in London was accompanied by study for an external degree in economics. The course also covered economic history, politics, and geography. Only two geographical papers were sat, on economic geography and Europe. A bequest enabled Bill to study at the LSE for a master's degree on Finland's foreign trade. He learned Swedish allowing him to use Finland's bi-lingual publications. Bill's love of Finland was kindled by the works of Strindberg and by Kalevala folklore. In the summer of 1938 he visited the country and returned enchanted. In 1939, he visited Denmark and began doctoral work; his first publications appeared. After the outbreak of war Bill joined the Royal Air Force and went to Iceland and Ontario. His role as administrative assistant to the commander of Mount Hope base (near Hamilton) gave him time to read and write about Northern Europe, and to contact local geographers. He published papers on the ports and economic geography of Denmark and Finland. Following demobilization in 1946 he completed his doctorate on ‘The geographical background to community of interests among the North European peoples’. In 1947 he was appointed to lecture at the University of Liverpool, where Henry Clifford Darby held the Chair of Geography. At Liverpool, Bill first encountered the writings of Pehr Kalm, a Swedish naturalist. In 1949 Darby moved to University College London and Bill agreed to join him. Funding from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled Bill to spend a year in Finland, where he lived and worked among farming families displaced from Karelia when the boundary with the USSR was redrawn. These hardy people had to clear forestland to create new farms. The experience immersed Bill in the Finnish language and made him many friends. He followed the fortunes of subsequent generations of these ‘cold farmers’. Bill Mead spent the rest of his career at UCL, retiring in 1981. Initially, he held particular responsibility for undergraduates taking the combined degree in geography and economics. For many years, he taught economic geography and the regional geography of North America; not until 1963 did he teach Northern Europe. Bill's lectures were delivered without notes and were enlivened with references to music, literature, poetry and opera. Some floated over the heads of his undergraduate audience. In 1961 he obtained a Chair, and in 1966 became head of department when Darby went to Cambridge. Under Bill's wise and unobtrusive chairmanship, the Department of Geography flourished. He used his experience and tact as an effective Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and as chair of countless committees. He was unfailingly courteous and often brought in flowers from his own garden for the departmental secretaries. Since the teaching of Finnish was so close to his heart, he served for many years on the Council of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and was satisfied when that institution joined UCL in 1999. He pursued a regular routine of travel to archives and libraries in Northern Europe, to read documents, catch up on statistics and publications, and visit old friends. As the years passed, he favoured historical rather than economic geography. An Historical Geography of Scandinavia (1981) came out the year he retired. For the rest of his life he lived at Aston Clinton, near Aylesbury, still going to London for meetings and travelling abroad. He engaged more with local life, presiding over the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society (2001–2008) and being very involved with Aylesbury Grammar School. He continued to ride his horse until he reached his early nineties. He was intellectually active and produced ten new books after retiring. ‘Never a day without writing; never a night without music’ – either at a concert or on the radio – was one of his sayings. Two of his retirement books trace the visit of Pehr Kalm to London and to the Chilterns in 1748. Others examine the geography of Northern Europe from the point of view of his own experience. Bill Mead adopted Finland geographically and emotionally, and was in turn adopted by geographers and friends throughout the Nordic lands. They too regret the loss of his twinkling eyes and cheerful voice but recall his kindness, enthusiasm and insight with great affection.

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