James Wreford Watson

Prof James Wreford Watson FRSE FRSC IBG LLD (February 8, 1915 – September 18, 1990) was a Scottish Canadian geographer and cartographer, who served as the Chief Geographer of Canada and the first president of the Canadian Association of Geographers. He was also a poet who wrote under the name James Wreford and was the recipient of Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, for his poetry.

Life and work

James Wreford Watson was born in Shaanxi in China on 8 February 1915, the son of Rev. James Watson, a missionary, and his wife, Evelyn Russell.

Watson was home-schooled in China, then the family returned to Edinburgh in Scotland, where he was then educated at George Watson's College. He then studied sciences at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BA in 1936. In 1937, he began lecturing in Geography at the University of Sheffield.

Watson became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1953.

He taught at the University of Edinburgh from 1954 to 1975. From 1975 to 1982 he was the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, in Edinburgh.

Watson also applied the concepts of social geography on a continental scale to examine regional differentiation in North America. "Here his work emphasized social problems associated with multiracial development, the ‘energy crisis’, conservation of resources, urban decay, and suburban sprawl."

The School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh commemorates Watson's life and work with the Wreford Watson Lecture Series.

Publications

Prose The Geography of the Niagara Peninsula, with Special Emphasis on Changes in Land Use and Settlement. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1945. General Geography (1953)

Poetry Unit of Five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P. K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford. (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1944). Of Time and the Lover. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1950. Countryside Canada.Fredericton, NB: Fiddlehead, 1979.

Edited with J.B. Sissons. The British Isles. Edinburgh. Published for the 20th International Geographic Conference.