Charles Bungay Fawcett (25 August 1883 – 21 September 1952) Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers) No. 18 (1952), pp. xi-xiii
Retrieved 26 August 2015 was a British geographer, regarded as "one of the founders of modern British academic geography" and an early promoter of the idea of

regional planning Regional planning deals with the efficient placement of land-use activities, infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town. Regional planning is related to urban planning as it relates land ...

.John Tomaney, "Anglo-Scottish Relations: A Borderland Perspective", in William L. Miller (ed.), ''Anglo-Scottish Relations, from 1900 to Devolution and Beyond'', Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.232-233
He was born into a farming family in

Staindrop Staindrop is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately north east of Barnard Castle, on the A688 road. According to the 2011 UK Census the population was 1,310, this includes the hamlets of Cleatlam an ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, and went to school in nearby Gainford. He studied science at University College, Nottingham and worked briefly as a schoolteacher before joining the staff under A. J Herbertson at the then-new School of Geography at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He was later a lecturer at University College, Southampton, and

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In 1928, he was appointed Professor of Geography at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he remained until his retirement in 1949.John Dean
"The barefoot evangelist"
, ''The Northern Echo'', 24 May 2004. Retrieved 14 July 2013

''Provinces of England''

He gained national attention for his essay ''Provinces of England'', published in 1919, in which he developed the thinking of

Patrick Geddes Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a British biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning ...

in suggesting a process of survey and development planning across large regions of England. He subdivided England into 12 "Provinces" – much larger than the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

s which at that time were the next level of government to the national level – and proposed that much regional planning should be carried out at a "provincial" level, crossing existing local authority boundaries. He claimed that "there is nothing sacrosanct in the boundaries of the administrative sub-divisions of England", while recognising that regional boundaries should "pay regard to local patriotism and to tradition". In many ways, Fawcett's thinking foreshadowed much of the

development planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

system that was applied in England in the second half of the twentieth century, and initiatives towards regional government in England. In 1960

William Gordon East William Gordon East (also W. G. East; 19 November 1902 – 27 January 1998) was an English geographer and writer. He studied at Cambridge University. He taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science.East, W. G. (1935) ''An Histor ...

and

Sidney William Wooldridge Professor Sidney William Wooldridge CBE, FRS, FGS (16 November 1900 – 25 April 1963), geologist, geomorphologist and geographer, was a pioneer in the study of the geomorphology of south-east England and the first professor of geography at Ki ...

edited a posthumous edition of the essay as a book with updated statistics from the 1951 census.

Other writings

His other books included ''Frontiers, a Study in Political Geography'' (1918) and ''A Political Geography of the British Empire'' (1933).

References

External links

* Hugh Clout
"Fawcett, Charles Bungay (1883–1952)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2011. Accessed 18 November 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, Charles Bungay Academics of University College London Alumni of the University of Nottingham People from Staindrop 1883 births 1952 deaths English geographers