Gordon Warwick

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Dr. Gordon Warwick was an award-winning geomorphologist and speleologist, based for his entire working career at Birmingham University. Following upon his death in 1983 a medal was instituted in his honour by the British Geomorphological Research Group, of which he was a founder member.

He was born in 1918 in the small railway village of Westhouses, in Derbyshire and attended the Railway School there, only about 100 yards from his home, and then went to Tapton Hall Grammar School, winning prizes every year, and eventually going to Bristol University in 1936, becoming the first person from the village to go to University. He left Bristol with a First in Geography and immediately volunteered for army service, upon declaration of War in 1939. He spent much of the War in North Africa and Italy, mostly as a sound ranger, progressing to the rank of Captain and was awarded an MBE. He was in charge of Serbian prisoners of war at Cesena and prior to demobilization he spent time teaching the the Army Formation College at Perugia.

After military service he went to Birmingham University and taught geomorphology. His specialisms were limestone and semi-arid climate processes, and he was a contributor to books such British Caving with Cecil Cullingford, A Dictionary of Geographical Terms with Sir L. Dudley Stamp and to the Guide to Birmingham and its Region of Prof Michael Wise. He retained a close interest in caving throughout his adult life and he was closely involved in the academic study of speleology and of the administration of its governing bodies, being a vice president of the UIS and receiving medals from several European Universities. He was awarded the Gill Memorial Award in 1965 for services to cave studies.

He was a vice president of the Union International de Speleologie and took at major role at its international conferences and was a member of many organizations such as the South Wales Caving Club, Cave Research Group, Cave History Group.

He also developed an interest in derelict land reclamation and clean air and was an early environmentalist,through a part time position with the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, later the Department of the Environment.

He tutored a large number of students both at undergraduate and graduate level, including a series of Iraqi geomorphogists and was an external examiner at Oxford, Bristol and Cambridge Universities. He is remembered by the Warwick Prize at Birmingham University and a Warwick Memorial Library at Derby University and at the South Wales Caving club.

He was named after his father, who was the first person in England to be called Gordon Warwick, being named after General Gordon.

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