Professor Cuchlaine King was an eminent scientist and researcher, known for her work on glaciology, coasts and beaches. She led the way for women in international expeditions and research, gaining access to previously restricted sites across the world. She was a Fellow of the Society for almost 80 years.
During World War II, she was a meteorologist and surveyor for the Women’s Royal Naval Service. After the war, she went on expeditions to Iceland and later to Baffin Island, becoming the first woman to be allowed to join a UK university expedition to the Arctic. In her own very modest words, her ‘only achievement’ had been to ‘pave the way for gender equality in Arctic exploration’.
Cuchlaine taught at the University of Nottingham for the entirety of her career, becoming a professor in 1969 – one of the first women to achieve this honour in a UK geography department. Here she published influential articles and books on glaciation and coastal erosion.
For a full obituary, see these pieces in The Times, The Yorkshire Post and The Geographical Journal.