Harold Fullard and Roger Anson, Outgoing and Incoming Chairman of the Publications Committee in City dress.
On February 1 2001 our colleague and friend Harold Fullard suddenly passed away.
He died from a heart attack in his beloved garden in Birkhampsted, Berkshire. Harold was born on 23 April 1915 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He read geography and anthropology at the University of Manchester and graduated in 1936. Equipped with this luggage he entered into the service of Publishers George Philip & Son, London, where he specialised in atlas cartography.
The war years inevitably interrupted this activity. Serving in the Royal Engineers Survey he was engaged in the mapping of Normandy and the Low Countries. In 1944 he was posted to India, then Ceylon and Singapore. He returned to Philip in 1946, where he climbed the ladder from geographical assistant to Director and Cartographic Editor in Chief. He retired officially in 1980 and continued to serve George Philip as consultant cartographer. During his career he prepared, edited and supervised the production of over 130 atlases, predominantly educational, covering many countries and most of them excelling in clarity and legibility. They were used by millions of people in schools, libraries and offices all over the world. In doing so, he became a man of international repute, whether modest Harold liked it or not!
Throughout his busy career he still made time for contributions to cartography in general. He was a founder member of the British Cartographic Society, was treasurer and council member from 1963–68,Vice-President in 1969, and President in 1970.
In addition, he was actively involved in the International Cartographic Association (ICA) from its foundation in the 1950’s. It will be obvious that his experience in international cartography proved to be extremely valuable for the consolidation and growth of the Association. He missed no Conference and by his lectures and writings he contributed to its prestige. For years he served as chairman of the ICA Publications Committee that he moulded into shape by revising its guidelines. During his chairmanship no less than 10 books, written by cartographers of diverging backgrounds and most of them drastically edited by Fullard, were added to the list of ICA Publications. The Seventh General Assembly of the Association, held in Perth, Australia in 1984, presented him with the Honorary Fellowship. On the national level the Royal Society presented him with the Murchison Award for his contribution to educational cartography.
Finally, in recognition of his many merits he was awarded an OBE in the 1980’s,after his retirement. We express our gratitude for all that Harold stood for and brought about and passed on to others. Finally we wish his dear wife Nancy, her two sons and daughter courage and strength to bear and overcome their loss.
F. J. Ormeling Snr.
Further reading: Honorary Fellowship for Harold Fullard
