Michael Chisholm

Michael Donald Inglis Chisholm (June 1931 – 9 July 2024) was a British economic and human geographer and academic. He was Professor of Geography at the University of Cambridge from 1976 until his retirement in 1996. He wrote several books on the rural economy and human geography, and served for many years as an advisor to the UK government.

Biography Chisholm was born in June 1931, and went to St Christopher School in Letchworth. He completed his schooling in 1950, and then undertook military service with the Royal Engineers. In 1951, he went to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to study geography under Gus Caesar. Chisholm's contemporaries at St Catharine's included the geographers Peter Haggett, Peter Hall, Gerald Manners and Kenneth Warren. Together with Chisholm they formed a cohort of geographers who came to be known as "Caesar's Praetorian Guard". They later jointly wrote a in Caesar's honour, edited by Chisholm. In the summer of 1953, Chisholm surveyed parts of Blakeney Point, Norfolk, to map changes in the coastline following the great North Sea flood of 31 January to 1 February 1953. Chisholm graduated in 1954. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002.

Chisholm's main work was in areas of human and economic geography, and its applications to government. His writings covered topics including land rent and agricultural economics, regional growth, and the interface between economics and geography. In 1970, Chisholm was awarded the Gill Memorial Award of the Royal Geographical Society, in recognition of his work on rural settlement, land-use and economic geography. In retirement, Chisholm continued to publish papers, mainly on topics related to the history of the Cambridgeshire Fens. He died in Cambridge on 9 July 2024, at the age of 93. He was a member of the social science research council between 1967 and 1972, a member of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England between 1971 and 1978, of the Rural Development Commission from 1981 to 1990, and of the Local Government Commission for England between 1992 and 1995. He was president of the Institute of British Geographers in 1979. Publications Selected books

Selected articles Chisholm, M. (2003). "Conservators of the River Cam, 1702–2002". Proceedings, Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 92, 183–200. Chisholm, M. & Stickler, P. (2012). "William Hayward's 1604 map of the Fens". Proceedings, Cambridge Antiquarian Society 101, 161–172.