Sir John Scott Keltie (29 March 1840 – 12 January 1927) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

geographer, best known for his work with the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

History

Keltie was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and attended school in Perth. He matriculated at the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh. He also completed a course of study at the Theological Hall of the United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh, but did not go into a religious career. Keltie later moved to London in 1871 to join Macmillan Publishers, where in 1873 he became sub-editor of the journal '' Nature'' and began separately to write articles on geography for '' The Times''. In 1880, he was taken on as editor of '' The Statesman's Yearbook'' for Macmillan. In 1883, Keltie joined the Royal Geographical Society and quickly became heavily involved in its activities. He was later appointed its Inspector of Geographical Education in 1884, and undertook a thorough review of the state of geography education in the UK, producing an influential 150-page report. In 1885, he became the society's librarian, and upon the death of Henry Walter Bates in 1892, succeeded him as assistant secretary of the society (in effect its secretary, as the official secretary was a figurehead from the nobility). Among his first tasks was the relaunching of the ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society'' as the ''

Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter ...

'' in 1893, in order to appeal to a wider audience. He was officially given the title of secretary in 1896. Between 1914 and 1915, Keltie served as president of the Geographical Association, succeeded by the author Hilaire Belloc. Keltie retired as secretary of the society in 1915 and was succeeded by

Arthur Robert Hinks Arthur Robert Hinks, CBE, FRS (26 May 1873 – 14 April 1945) was a British astronomer and geographer. As an astronomer, he is best known for his work in determining the distance from the Sun to the Earth (the astronomical unit) from 1900 to ...

, though he remained as joint editor (with Hinks) of the ''Geographical Journal'' until 1917. He died in London in 1927.

Awards

Keltie received various awards during his long career. In 1917, he was presented the society's Victoria Medal. He also received the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society, and the gold medals of the Paris and Royal Scottish Geographical Societies. In 1918, Keltie was made a Knight Bachelor.

In popular culture

Keltie was portrayed by Clive Francis in the 2016 film '' The Lost City of Z''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keltie, John Scott 1840 births 1927 deaths Scottish geographers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scientists from Dundee Victoria Medal recipients