E.G.R. Taylor Collection of Historic Printed Maps

Who was E.G.R. Taylor?

Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor was a leading twentieth century geographer and historian of science. Born in 1879, she began her career teaching and writing textbooks, and became a lecturer in geography at Birkbeck College in 1921. She was appointed chair of Birkbeck’s Department of Geography in 1930, the first woman to hold a geography chair in the UK, remaining until her retirement in 1944. An active scholar, she applied a comprehensive approach to her study of the development of geographical thought, the history of cartography, and the science of navigation. Her major writings include the books Tudor geography, 1485-1583 (1930), Late Tudor and early Stuart geography, 1583-1650 (1934), The mathematical practitioners of Tudor and Stuart England (1954), The mathematical practitioners of Hanoverian England, 1714-1840 (1966), and The haven-finding art: a history of navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook (1962). Beyond theory and history, Professor Taylor also contributed to national discussions on land utilisation, qualifications for planners, advocacy of a national atlas of Great Britain as a basis for urban and rural planning, and instructed military officers in map reading and interpretation. She continued her research and writing until her death in 1966.

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