Professor Eric Brown, 1922–2018

© Department of Geography, UCL. Reproduced with kind permission. Eric Herbert Brown died at Berkhamsted on 5 January 2018 at the age of 95. He taught geography at University College London for almost four decades, inspiring generations of undergraduates and mentoring dozens of research students. His doctoral work, published as The Relief and Drainage of Wales (1960) earned him the Back Award of the Royal Geographical Society and has become a classic work in physical geography. Eric was President of the Institute of British Geographers in 1978 and served as Honorary Secretary of the RGS from 1977 to 1987, and then Vice-President (1988–1989). He edited Geography Yesterday and Tomorrow (1980) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Society. As Honorary Secretary, he chaired the Research and Editorial Advisory Committees, and was a member of five other RGS committees ranging from finance and general purposes to medals and awards. His expertise was deployed as chair of the British Geomorphological Research Group (1971–1972), of the Remote Sensing Steering Committee of the Natural Environment Research Council (1983–1988), and of the British National Committee of Geography (1985–1990). The son of Samuel and Ada Brown, Eric was born on 8 December 1922 at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. His exploration of the surrounding countryside, on foot or on bicycle, awakened his interest in geography, and a game of “brook jumping” introduced him to the meandering of streams. Having excelled in his secondary education at King Edward VII Grammar School in Melton Mowbray, he was accepted to study geography at King's College London. His first academic year was spent as an academic evacuee in Bristol, where he was tutored by Sidney Wooldridge who had a profound influence on his approach to geography and his subsequent career. From 1941 to 1945, Eric was a Royal Air Force pilot, after training at several bases in Britain and Canada. As a member of 517 Squadron, Coastal Command, he was involved in anti-U Boat operations over the Bay of Biscay and collected meteorological data on long patrols over the Atlantic to assist forecasting of weather in Europe. This contributed to the forecast from which General Eisenhower decided to postpone D-Day by 24 hours. Based in Pembrokeshire, Eric met a local farmer's daughter named Eileen Reynolds whom he married in 1945. After the war, he resumed studies at the King's College-London School of Economics Joint School of Geography and obtained a first class degree in 1947. Following Wooldridge's advice, Eric accepted an assistant lectureship at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where Emrys Bowen was professor. With support from geologist Alan Wood, Eric researched the geomorphology of Cardiganshire for his MSc (University of Wales, 1949), and started work on his doctoral project covering Wales (University of London, 1955). He made field observations throughout Wales, usually travelling by motorbike. His investigations impressed Professor Henry Clifford Darby, whom he had met at an IBG conference, and he was invited to join UCL. After advice from Wooldridge, Eric began teaching in London in January 1950. During the following decade, he worked under great pressure, having a young family, a doctorate to complete and papers to publish, as well as being “departmental tutor” from 1954 to 1966, dealing with every aspect of administration in Darby's rapidly growing department. Throughout his career, Eric's main teaching responsibilities lay with geomorphology and North America, the latter popular course being shared with Bill Mead. Their joint book, The USA and Canada (1962), echoed experience gained from their attendance at the 17th International Geographical Congress at Washington in 1952 and during Eric's exchange year at the University of Indiana (1953–1954). As an instructor, Eric's real strength showed in the field and in his encouragement of graduate students to forge their own ideas. His commitment to their progress and welfare is remembered with affection. Beyond the British Isles, Eric gained field experience in Poland in the early 1960s of periglacial features and the techniques of geomorphological mapping developed there during the 1950s. This led to him making a significant contribution to all of the four meetings (one of only three such “regulars”) between November 1958 and January 1961 that began by proposing a Land Form Survey of Britain, and ended with the agreement to establish the British Geomorphological Research Group (BGRG). The minutes of these meetings reveal Eric to have been a strong advocate for the Polish style of geomorphological mapping (of landforms) rather than the morphological mapping (of slope attributes) favoured by some others; as well as for the foundation of the BGRG (together with David Linton and Wooldridge). Eric was elected a member of the first BGRG Committee at the 1961 meeting, and for decades after, was a regular at BGRG meetings. He also made two visits to Latin America in 1965–1966, and participated in scientific investigations in Mato Grosso State (Brazil), and then gathered geomorphological evidence to advise the government of Argentina in its boundary dispute with Chile. As visiting professor at Monash University in 1971, he researched bushfires and other hazards in Australia, and travelled on to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. Six years later, he and four other British geographers investigated loess, karst and fluvial features in China, as guests of the Academia Sinica. In 1980, Eric led the United Kingdom delegation to the 19th International Geographical Congress in Japan. In 1987, he visited Tibet and remained greatly fascinated by its physical geography. Back in London, Eric was instrumental in establishing the Remote Sensing Unit of the University of London at UCL. He assumed many additional responsibilities in the College as Dean of Students and Member of Council (1972–1975), Chair of the Shenley Grounds Committee (1971–1982) and Student Accommodation Committee (1982–1988), and then Director of Alumni Relations (1989–1991). In the wider University of London, he was a member of the Senate and the Academic Council (1981–1988). Few people, if any, had a better understanding of how these institutions operated and his advice in this context was invaluable. Eric retired in 1988 but retained many links with UCL and especially the Remote Sensing Unit. In 2002 his long and dedicated service to geography was marked by an honorary doctorate from the University of York, where his former student Sir Ron Cooke was vice-chancellor. Eric continued to be an active member of his local community in Berkhamsted, including its branch of the Geographical Association. He attended academic events at the RGS-IBG and meetings of the Geographical Club. He deepened his appreciation of rugby football and fine wines. UCL Geography emeriti enjoyed regular “pub lunches” until last year, when Eric would recall wartime experiences as if they were yesterday. A visit, with Bill Mead, to Gerry and Marion Ward in the south of France became an annual fixture. After the death of Eileen in 1984, he lived alone for three decades, moving into a retirement home only for his final months. Professor Eric Brown is survived by his daughters, Jane and Megan, and by his grandchildren in whom he took great pride.

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