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Geddes, Sir Patrick, 1854-1932 (biologist, sociologist, educationist and town planner)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1854 - 1932

Biography

Patrick Geddes was born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire on 2 October 1854. He was educated at Perth Academy and then studied at the Royal College of Mines in London, 1874-1878. He lectured in Zoology at Edinburgh University, 1880-1888. He held the Chair of Botany at University College, Dundee, from 1888 to 1919, and the Chair of Sociology at the University of Bombay from 1919 to 1924. Geddes was actively occupied in city improvement, town planning, and educational initiatives at home, on the continent, and in India. He drew up a city plan for both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and he developed the Cité Universitaire Mediterranéenne (Collège des Écossais) at Montpellier, France, and the educational facility at the Outlook Tower, Edinburgh.

Geddes was knighted in 1932. His publications included: Evolution of sex, with Sir J. Arthur Thomson; Cities in evolution; and The life and work of Sir Jagadis C. Bose. He died in France, at Montpellier, on 17 April 1932. Geddes was an influence on subsequent British urban planners.

Found in 12 Collections and/or Records:

Helen Lewise Dougal Archive relating to Patrick Geddes and Scots College, Montpellier

 Fonds — Box CLX-A-1534
Identifier: Coll-2045
Content Description This fonds consists of material of Helen Lewise Dougal relating to Patrick Geddes and the Scots College in Montpellier. Includes photos (originals and copies), booklets, letters, and a CD containing photos. Postcards of Sète and Montpellier, 1929. Article entitled Patrick Geddes in his Montpellier setting by A.D. Peacock, ca 1927. Print...
Dates: 1927-1934

Letter to Sir Donald Francis Tovey from Sir Patrick Geddes, 12 January 1923

 Item
Identifier: Coll-411/1/1/L1167
Scope and Contents

Letter, 12 January 1923, Bombay, Patrick Geddes to Donald Tovey. Description of the planning Geddes is doing in India and Jerusalem and asking Tovey how he would like a music faculty in a University to be designed, what are his requirements, to help Geddes in his work. Holograph signed.

Dates: 12 January 1923

Letters from Patrick Geddes to R. E. Muirhead

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1159
Scope and Contents Two of the letters are Geddes' autograph, one dated 23 November 1928, the other 4 December (1928), and both are written on headed notepaper: College des Ecossais, Plan des Quatre Seigneurs, Montpellier, France. The third is a typescript which forms a postscript to the second letter. At the time of writing, Geddes was living in his old age at Montpellier. As ever, Geddes is urging change and new perspectives. The letters are from Geddes to R. E. Muirhead, chairman of the National...
Dates: 1928

Material relating to the Outlook Tower Current Events Club

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-800
Scope and Contents The collection consists of press cuttings made by the Outlook Tower Current Events Club c. 1895-1914. The subject material ranges from: Africa, agriculture, America, architecture, art, music and literature, astronomy, the Balkans, the British Empire, China, civics, the Congo and the Nile, Dreyfus, Ireland, the Philippines, education, eugenics, Europe, gardens and garden cities, finance, hygiene, industries, labour, medicine, Parliament, polar expeditions, nature and science, meteorology, the...
Dates: 1895-1914

Papers of Lewis T. Waters

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1264
Scope and Contents The collection is composed of the following copies of letters: letter, manuscript, from Arthur Geddes to Mrs. J. Unwin [undated] letter, typescript, from Mrs. J. Unwin, London, to Arthur, 7 May [no year] letter, manuscript, from Arthur Geddes, Edinburgh, to Mr. Waters, 9 May 1967 letter, typescript, from Unwin at the Greater London Regional Planning...
Dates: 1904-1967

Papers of William Speirs Bruce

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-72
Scope and Contents The Papers of William Speirs Bruce consist of a substantial number of manuscripts and ephemera including pamphlets; notes and notebooks; annotated typescripts; annotated offprints; picture postcards; photographs; examination papers; sketch maps; diaries; press cuttings; correspondence; lists of specimens; book catalogues; soundings; lecture engagements; lectures; and, maps. The Papers handle a wide variety of subjects including the 'Balaena', fish and fisheries, Franz Josef Land, the...
Dates: 1892-1923

Patrick Geddes Collection

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1167
Scope and Contents The collection contains original exhibits from Patrick Geddes' replacement Cities and Town Planning Exhibitions (which was constituted 1914-1924, after the original exhibition was lost at sea during transit to India in October 1914). Also included are items from Geddes' Survey of Edinburgh (which formed part of the Cities and Town Planning Exhibition as an illustration of Geddes' city and region survey). The Survey of Edinburgh includes over 250 glass plate negatives which were commissioned...
Dates: 1753-c 1985

Records relating to the Mechanics' Library and University Hall, Riddle's Court

 Item — Volume Dk.1.4
Identifier: Coll-1841
Scope and Contents A single volume in two parts. The first part relates to the buildings use as the Mechanics Library, the second relates to its period as University Hall. In the front is bound an architectural plan and two engravings of the buildings.Section I begins with a Preface based on extracts from Daniel Wilson, 'Edinburgh in Olden Time'. Bound in before the Preface is a two-sided illustration, one side titled "M'Morran Superintends his bigging". Thererafter follows a table of contents...
Dates: 1850s, 1890s

The Cities and Town Planning Exhibitions, 1831 - 1917

 Series
Identifier: Coll-1167/A
Scope and Contents Exhibits, catalogues and supporting items that form Patrick Geddes' replacement Cities and Town Planning Exhibition. The replacement exhibition was constituted under the direction of Patrick Geddes' friend and colleague the architect Henry Vaughan Lanchester (1863-1953) and sent to India in December 1914. Geddes requested the constitution of the replacement exhibition after the loss of the original Cities and Town Planning Exhibition during its transportation to India, as a result of the...
Dates: 1831 - 1917

Typescript by Edward McGegan entitled 'Notes on Patrick Geddes as Man of Action', early 1930s

 Item — Box CLX-A-353
Identifier: Coll-1848/17-0194
Scope and Contents

160 pp copy quarto typescript by Edward McGegan.

Dates: early 1930s