# Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor

Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor (22 June 1879–5 July 1966) was a British geographer and historian of science, the first woman to hold an academic chair of geography in the United Kingdom.

## Early life and education

Taylor was born on 22 June 1879 in Highgate. Her mother ran away three years later and her upbringing after this was strict. She was educated at home and at the Camden School for Girls, the North London Collegiate School, and Royal Holloway College.
In 1903 she obtained a first class BSc in chemistry from the University of London.

## Career

While teaching chemistry at Burton Upon Trent School for Girls and later at a convent school, Taylor studied at the University of Oxford. From 1908 to 1910 acted as research assistant to A. J. Herbertson, head of the School of Geography. She wrote school geography textbooks in collaboration with J. F. Unstead.
Taylor worked whilst caring for a family (she had three sons, one of whom died in infancy) and lectured part-time at Clapham Training College for Teachers, the Froebel Institute, the East London College (later Queen Mary College), and Birkbeck College. Taylor obtained a DSc in geography from the University of London in 1929.
Taylor was appointed chair of geography at Birkbeck College in 1930. She was the first woman to hold this position, though Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was the first woman professor to be appointed at the university. Taylor contributed to the Barlow commission on industrial population in the late 1930s, contributed to Association for Planning and Regional Reconstruction during and after World War II and contrubuted to the Schuster committee on planning. During the war, Taylor educated officers in the eastern command in map-reading and interpretation. She lectured on airways of empire.
Taylor approached the history of geography and mathematics as a historian, discussing methods and practices as well as theories, and sought to reconstruct the history of the 17th century "as men believed it to be". Taylor was an expert on mathematical practitioners such as William Bourne and identified thousands of practical mathematicians from the Tudor and Stuart period, and then the Hanoverian era. Her work on instrument makers and textbook authors was an important contrubution to better known histories about well-known figures. She became a member of council of the Hakluyt Society in the early 1930s.
In 1944, she retired from her position as chair and became professor emeritus. Taylor continued to research in her retirement. She was disabled and unable to travel, and enjoyed her work. Three of her most notable works were published after she was 75. She was supported in this work by Eila Campbell.
Taylor published ten books, hundreds of articles and contributed to multi-authored volumes on the subjects of history of geography and mathematics. Taylor's work was valued for its practical use by historians and museum professionals working with scientific instruments, and built upon by Peter and Ruth Wallis and Gloria Clifton. Her work was celebrated by historians of science such as Alfred Rupert Hall and Derek Price of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, though her referencing has since been criticised.

### Works

* Tudor Geography, 1485–1583. London: Methuen. 1930.
* Late Tudor and Early Stuart Geography, 1583–1650. London: Methuen. 1934.
* The Mathematical Practitioners of Tudor and Stuart England. Cambridge (England): Published for the Institute of Navigation at the University Press. 1954.
* The Haven-Finding Art: a History of Navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook. London: Hollis & Carter. 1956. Second Edition, 1971
* The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England, 1714-1840. Cambridge (England): Published for the Institute of Navigation at the University Press. 1966.
* Taylor, Eva (1937). "Robert Hooke and the Cartographical Projects of the Late Seventeenth Century (1666-1696)". The Geographical Journal. 90 (6): 529. doi:10.2307/1787651.
* Taylor, Eva (1941). "Notes on John Adams and Contemporary Map Makers". The Geographical Journal. 97 (3): 182. doi:10.2307/1787329.

### Honours and awards

Taylor was a recipient of the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1947 and was made honorary fellow in 1965. She was one of the first Fellows of Birkbeck College, and an Honorary Member of the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) and of the Royal Institute of Navigation. She was the President of the geography section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science twice. The Society for Nautical Research made her honorary vice-president. She was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Aberdeen.

## Death and legacy

Taylor died in Wokingham on 5 July 1966. The Eva G. R. Taylor Lecture series on "subjects related to the disciplines to which Professor Taylor's studies made such brilliant contributions" was sponsored by the Royal Institute of Navigation, the BSHS, the Society for Nautical Research and Birkbeck College. It was created to celebrate her 80th birthday and continued after her death.