Sir Patrick Geddes
1854-1932
Cairngorms National Park
Famous for:
Pioneering town planner, biologist and enlightened social thinker dubbed 'a Scottish genius'
More info:
Famous Scots - Patrick Geddes
You can see Geddes' work at Edinburgh Zoo, which he helped to plan
Early life
Sir Patrick was born in Ballater, on the eastern side of the Cairngorms National Park, and went to school in Perth. After a false start as an apprentice at a local bank, he went on to study chemistry, biology and geology, before discovering his true passion – zoology. He studied under TH Huxley in London, before becoming a lecturer in botany at Edinburgh University in 1880 and later at Dundee University (from 1888 to 1919).
Variety is the spice of life
Geddes didn’t restrict his lectures to botany – he had strong views on many aspects of life encompassed and believed that ‘place, work and folk’ were all inter-connected.
He lectured on:
- socialism
- capital and labour
- campaigned to extend access to universities
- was instrumental in the design of Edinburgh zoo
- formed the Edinburgh Social Union with his wife and helped clean up one of the worst slums in the city
Achievements
He established a Scots College in Montpellier which opened in 1925.
He was knighted in 1932 shortly before his death in Montpellier.
Great thinker
Geddes was one of the outstanding thinkers of his time, and his reputation as a radical town planner took him all over the world, including to:
- United States
- Palestine
- Cyprus
- India (where he helped survey and ‘diagnose’ urban issues in 50 cities)
