Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The prestigious Royal Geographical Society’s Victoria Medal awarded to Professor Charles Alfred Fisher, who, as a Captain in the Royal Engineers, was taken prisoner by the Japanese and served on the infamous Burma-Siam railway

Royal Geographical Society, Victoria Medal, by W. Wyon, obverse: young head of Queen Victoria, reverse: the draped figure of Athena standing holding a wreath and map, at her feet a globe and sextant (Charles Alfred Fisher 1974) 55mm., 97g., 9ct. gold, hallmarks for London 1973, in Royal Mint case of issue, ref. Eimer 1229, extremely fine £1000-1200

Charles Alfred Fisher was born in Attenborough, Nottinghamshire on 23 April 1916, the son of Rev. Charles and Berta Fisher. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Birmingham; the Model School, Vancouver; Strand School, London and St. Catherine’s College Cambridge. Studying Geography he gained a B.A. first class with honours in 1938 and a M.A. in 1942, being appointed Junior Librarian at St. Catherine’s, 1938-40. With the outbreak of war he was appointed to a commission in the Suffolk Regiment in 1940, being transferred to the Royal Engineers (Survey) in 1941. In due course he was posted to Singapore, where in 1942 he was appointed a Staff Captain at the Headquarters of Malaya Command. With the fall of Singapore in February 1942 he was taken prisoner by the Japanese. Whilst held in Singapore he was the joint founder and secretary of the ‘Changi P.O.W. University’. As with many other P.O.W’s. he was later transported north and sent to serve as slave labour on the infamous Burma-Siam railway. Despite his wartime experiences as a prisoner, he held a life-long professional interest in South-East Asia and its peoples.

After his liberation and return to the U.K., Fisher held a number of academic appointments in rapid succession: as Assistant Lecturer in Geography, University College, Leicester, 1946; Lecturer in Geography, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1946-49; Senior Research Officer, Institute of Colonial Studies, University of Oxford, 1950-51, gaining a M.A. by incorporation in 1950; Lecturer in Geography, University College, Leicester, 1951-58; Reader in Geography, University of Leicester, 1958-59; Professor and Head of Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, 1959-64; Director of Centre of Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield, 1962-64; Professor of Geography, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1964-81. In 1976 he was awarded the degree of D. Litt. from Komazawa University, Japan.

He was in addition a Visiting Lecturer in Geography and Visiting Fellow of Trumbull College, Yale University, 1953-54; Chairman of the Association of British Orientalists, 1962-63; and the Editor of Modern Asian Studies, 1967-70. In 1939 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and received the R.G.S. Travelling Fellowship in 1947. In 1974 he was awarded the R.G.S. Victoria Medal - awarded for ‘conspicuous merit in research in Geography’. He was also a member of the Association of South Eastern Studies; Geographical Association; Institute of British Geographers; Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the Royal Central Asian Society.

In 1979 his book, ‘Three Times a Guest’ was published, the title referring to him being three times the guest of the Japanese - the first as a prisoner of war, together with two post-war visits to Japan. In 1981 Fisher was appointed Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of London. He died after a long illness on 7 January 1982.

With a quantity of original papers and copied research, including original hand-written letters from Charles Alfred Fisher to his parents whilst en-route to and in Malaya, July-October 1941; official letters re his capture, imprisonment and release; original typed and hand-produced programme of the Chungkai Theatre production, ‘Garrison Theatre’, produced by Charles Fisher and performed on 7 & 8 July 1944; the pamphlet, ‘Advice to the Relative of a Man who is Missing’; the booklet, ‘A Handbook for the information of Relative and Friends of Prisoners of War and Civilians in Japanese or Japanese-Occupied Territory’; an extracted article, ‘The Thailand-Burma Railway’, by Charles A. A. Fisher; a paper reprinted from The Scottish Geographical Magazine, ‘The Railway Geography of British Malaya’, by C. A. Fisher, signed ‘Every good wish Charles’; the paper of the inaugural lecture ‘The Battlefield of Wind, Water and Rock’, given by Professor Alice Garnett at the University of Sheffield, 1963, inscribed, ‘To Professor C. A. Fisher with all good wishes’; and the paper of the inaugural lecture, ‘The Reality of Place’, given by Charles A. Fisher at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1964. Together with Fisher’s copied Japanese P.O.W. records; his curriculum vitae, and obituary. Also with one original and three copied photographs of the recipient.