Sir Harry George Champion CIE (17 August 1891 – 20 June 1979) was a

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 forest officer in British India who created a classification of the forest types of India and Burma. He studied at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, and obtained a degree in chemistry in 1912 and then studied botany and forestry under

William Schlich Sir Wilhelm Philipp Daniel Schlich (28 February 1840 in Flonheim – 28 September 1925 in Oxford), also known as William Schlich, was an eminent German-born forester who worked extensively in India for the British administration. As a professor ...

. He joined the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 u ...

in 1915 and became a silviculturist at the Forest Research Institute at

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

staying there until 1936 before becoming a Conservator in the United Provinces. He left India in 1939 and became a Professor of Forestry at Oxford, succeeding

Robert Scott Troup Robert Scott Troup CMG CIE FRS (13 December 1874 – 1 October 1939) was a British forestry expert. He spent the first part of his career in Colonial India, returning to England in 1920 to head Oxford's School of Forestry. Education Troup wa ...

. Troup had offered him a position at the Imperial Forestry Institute in 1924 but Champion chose not to join it. He married Troup's secretary Crystal Parsons. Champion published an initial classification of the forest types of India and Burma in 1936. This was revised in 1968 by S K. Seth and this is referred to as the Champion and Seth classification of the forest types of India. His younger brother F. W. Champion was also a forester in India and a pioneer in wildlife photography.

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* 1891 births 1979 deaths British foresters British botanists Alumni of New College, Oxford Place of birth missing Imperial Forestry Service officers Academics of the University of Oxford Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Bachelor British people in colonial India {{forestry-researcher-stub