1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Keltie, Sir John Scott

KELTIE, SIR JOHN SCOTT (1840-), British geographer, was born at Dundee March 29 1840. He was educated at Perth, and afterwards at St. Andrews and Edinburgh. In 1861 he joined the editorial staff of W. & R. Chambers, of Edinburgh, and from 1871 to 1884 was employed by Macmillan & Co., being also for some years the sub-editor of Nature. In 1880 he was appointed editor of the Statesman's Year Book. He became in 1884 inspector of geographical education in connexion with the Royal Geographical Society, becoming librarian of the society in 1885 and its secretary in 1892. This position he held till 1915, whe he was appointed joint-editor of the Geographical Journal. In 1917 he retired and in 1918 was knighted. Sir John Keltie has been the recipient of many honours from learned societies, including the Cullum gold medal of the American Geographical Society and the gold medals of the Paris and Royal Scottish Geographical Societies (1915), besides the Victoria medal of the Royal Geographical Society (1917). In 1897 he was president of the geographical section of the British Association. His best-known book is The Partition of Africa (1894), which is one of the standard works on the subject. He has also published A History of the Scottish Highlands and Clans (1874); Report on Geographical Education (1886); Applied Geography (1890; new ed. 1908) and The History of Geography (with O. J. R. Howarth, 1914); besides many articles in scientific and geographical journals. He acted during the winter of 1918-9 as a geographical adviser to the historical section of the Foreign Office.