Florence Clark Miller (1889-17 March 1967) was a British

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and academic.

Early life and education

Miller was born in 1889. Her first degree was in History from the

University of Leeds , 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 , ...

; she graduated in 1911 and became a school teacher.

Career

In 1921 she became Lecturer in Geography at the University College of Southampton. She was Warden of Montefiore Hall and in the 1920s "had the difficult task of encouraging all those women students whose homes were in Southampton to take full part in the life of the University College". In 1929 she was one of the organisers of an exhibition organised by the Southampton Geographical Association, with the aim of supporting teachers to be informed about developments in geographical science. Miller gave financial support to the student geography society. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she taught map-reading to

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

personnel. She was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 1945, and in 1949 the Department of Geography split from the Department of Economics and Miller became head of the new department. She was one of the founding members of Southampton University's

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Miller retired in 1954 and died in 1967.

Legacy

Miller was described as "a most original teacher who caught and easily held the minds of students". The University of Southampton awards an annual Florence Miller prize in geography in her memory, established in 1998. Miller was interested in

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

, and continued to work on this during her retirement.

Publications

* "Early Maps of China and the Mediterranean", 1921, in ''The Geographical Teacher'', volume 11. * "Miss K.C. Boswell", 1954, in ''Geography'', volumes 37-8 (obituary of her colleague).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Florence Clark British geographers Women geographers 20th-century geographers Academics of the University of Southampton Alumni of the University of Leeds English geographers 20th-century English women British women social scientists British social scientists 20th-century English educators 1889 births 1967 deaths