Peter Clark died at the home of his daughter in Kent on 9th December, almost 96 years after his birth in Fulham, London. His mother, a teacher, introduced him to Ordnance Survey maps at the tender age of eight and that triggered a lifelong fascination with maps which never dimmed. At the age of 11 he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith where his growing fascination with geography was nurtured.
By the time he was 18, Peter had discovered the Royal Geographical Society and was writing to his school friend in glowing terms ‘I have tasted one of the delights at that fount of pure learning and I long for more. Oh, that map room: it is nearly paradise!’ He became a Fellow in 1945 and his parents, at his request, paid for a Life Fellowship on his 21st birthday. At that stage, he could have had little idea of the role and influence that maps and the Society would have on his adult life or the extent to which he was destined to contribute to the development of cartography as a profession.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and was sent to Liverpool University to study a short course in oceanography, geography and geology. After completing his National Service with the Meteorological Office, he read Geography at St John’s College, Cambridge where he also studied Polish. He married CzesÉ«awa Zofia Skowronek, a Polish WREN who had been a courier in the Polish underground movement and who continued to use her underground pseudonym, Ela. Initially living in Fulham, they eventually moved to Wandsworth, where they raised their family of four children, Jill, Ann, Robert and Christopher.
In 1950 he applied for posts in both the Map Room of the British Museum and as an Assistant Map Curator in the War Office: the latter appointed him and he began his working life on 18 December 1950 as a Map Curator with D.Survey in Tolworth, Surrey. Peter was to spend his career in what became the Map Research Officer (MRO) class in the Ministry of Defence, rising to its senior grade at the relatively young age of 38 and becoming responsible for the Map Research and Library Group which provided the cartographic research support for the production of maps and charts to meet the needs of the British Army and the Royal Air Force.
Peter was aware of the extent to which he headed not simply the country’s largest map collection (over two million), but also one of its largest concentrations of graduate geographers. He sought at every stage to ensure that he and his staff contributed to, and directly influenced, the increasing moves to standardise practices in map collections nationally and internationally. Together with Dr Helen Wallis of the British Library, he helped to establish the British Committee for Map Information and Cataloguing Systems (BRICMICS). He was one of the instigators of the earliest attempts (in the 1970s) to use computer technology to automate map collections. He also assiduously ensured that the deposit requirements placed on all Government departments by the National Archives were followed by the MoD’s own map collection, arranging for the deposit of both the WWI and WWII operational map series. He established the Map Disposals programme in the MoD so that the thousands of maps which were no longer required in the MoD’s own collection found good homes in perpetuity in other national collections, not least the copyright libraries, university collections and the Society’s own collection. Peter’s linguistic ability resulted in his interest in toponymy and he was, for many years, a leading figure and sometime Chair of the Permanent Committee for Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN), an organisation long (and still) housed in Lowther Lodge.
Peter was an exceptional geographer who furthered the cause of progressing geography, and specifically cartography, as a profession. He laid the early professional foundations in the MRO class, later built on by his successors, which today manifests itself in the Defence Geography Profession. The majority of that group are presently employed in the Defence Geographic Centre, the present-day title of the organisation for which Peter worked for most of his career. He always encouraged his staff to become Fellows, often proposing them himself: that is certainly true for the authors of this obituary and many of their generation. He was a member of the Geographical Club for many years, only retiring when increasing infirmity made it difficult for him to travel to London from his home in Devon.
On his retirement from MoD in 1983, Peter was delighted to become Keeper of the Society’s map collection, a position in which he remained for over 8 years and in which he was to utilise his professional expertise, reputation and contacts to promote the Society’s interests. He was proud to receive the Murchison Award in 1991. In furthering the role of cartography in national life, Peter was a founder member of the British Cartographic Society (BCS) in 1963. He served on the Council of the BCS and was awarded the Society Medal ‘for services to cartography’ in 2006. Whilst Peter himself never chose to stand for the office, it is notable that no less than four Presidents of the BCS came from his staff. In 1980 Peter was co-founder and inaugural Chair of the Charles Close Society, created for the study of Ordnance Survey maps and history, a passionate interest of his throughout his long life. He always championed the Society’s links with both of these ‘young’ societies.
So many personal tributes have been paid to Peter since his death and each has revealed the extent to which this modest, always low profile, man dedicated his life and work to his early interest in maps. Always ready to share his knowledge and encourage younger members of his staff and the wider national cartographic world in which he operated, it is clear that no-one was particularly singled out for his personal support – you just had to show an interest and ask for advice, and you would receive it in abundance. His helpful and encouraging approach continued well into retirement as he remained in contact with so many in his professional
network who felt privileged to count him their ‘guide, mentor and friend’.
It is the intention to hold a Celebration of the Life and Work of this quiet giant of the geographical world later this year in Lowther Lodge, the home of the Society he loved. Invitations to attend will be extended to all in due course.
Dr Barbara Bond MBE FRGS
Dr Yolande Hodson FSA FRGS