From 1972 until his retirement in 2010 Tony taught, inspired, and guided generations of Geographers at Mansfield and indeed across the University of Oxford. One such alumnus who has chosen to honour Tony’s impact on their life is Bill Jackson (Geography, 1983) whose landmark gift to Mansfield has endowed and named in perpetuity the Tony Lemon Tutorial Fellowship in Geography.  

The Governing Body of Mansfield College was delighted to receive this generous gift and to invite William to accept the Bancroft Fellowship, Mansfield’s greatest philanthropic honour. William says:

“Tony holds a very special place in my heart, and I am delighted to support the creation of the Tony Lemon Fellowship at Mansfield as a proper tribute to all he has done for the College and all of us who have benefitted from his teaching. It is a wonderful thing to know that the future of Geography at Mansfield is being secured, and that generations of students to come will know Tony’s name and hopefully begin to understand the legacy that he has left at the College.” 

The first Tony Lemon Fellow is Professor Derek McCormack, who has been a Geography Tutor at Mansfield since 2009. Derek’s research centres on ‘experiencing space’, and its affective and emotional dimensions. He has written about the affective experience of spaces in a range of contexts from arctic exploration, to air travel, to art and performance, to cities. Derek is one of two Tutorial Fellows in Geography at Mansfield, alongside Dr Amber Murrey, who teach and guide a cohort of around 24 undergraduate geographers at the College.

Upon becoming the first Tony Lemon Fellow, Derek has expressed his delight:

“It’s a great honour to have been named Mansfield’s first Tony Lemon Fellow. Tony has made such a tremendous impact on the study of Geography at the College and I know generations of alumni rightly remember him as an integral part of Mansfield’s fabric. I’m excited to carry part of Tony’s enduring legacy and, with the other geographers here in the College, am very grateful to William for his transformational support for Geography at Mansfield.”

Tony has also expressed his excitement and appreciation for William’s support:

“The college tutorial system is critical to an Oxford undergraduate education, and with much decreased state support its endowment has become essential. As Mansfield’s first Geography Fellow I am thrilled that we have secured the funding to endow this Fellowship, securing the future of Geography teaching in the College. I am hugely grateful to Bill Jackson for his very generous support. Having been at Mansfield since 1969, it has been a major part of my life and I am deeply honoured to have my name associated with the Fellowship.”

The Tony Lemon Tutorial Fellowship in Geography is the second academic post to be endowed as part of Mansfield’s new Campaign for Teaching, which aims to endow, and therefore secure in perpetuity, at least one Tutorial Fellowship in each of Mansfield’s most popular and enduring subjects. The first post endowed at the start of the Campaign for Teaching was in Mathematics, in honour of Emeritus Fellow Dr Janet Dyson. More information on the Janet Dyson Tutorial Fellowship in Mathematics is available here.

William’s generosity builds on the support that other members of Mansfield’s Geography community have shown for their subject, and crucially it also allows the College to now set its sights on endowing the second existing Tutorial Fellowship in Geography with the support of our Geography alumni. We aim for this to be an opportunity to honour the contributions of Dr Pam Berry, whose support and guidance we know meant so much to generations of geographers here.

Mansfield’s Principal, Helen Mountfield KC, also conveyed her gratitude and excitement upon this exceptional milestone:

“Tony Lemon, and the study of Geography here dating back to 1887, have fundamentally shaped Mansfield into what it is today. So I am proud and delighted that, thanks to William’s spectacular generosity, we can honour Tony’s contribution to Mansfield and secure the future of Geography here through the creation of the Tony Lemon Tutorial Fellowship. I hope that this landmark moment in the College’s history will inspire Mansfield’s geographers to come together to honour Dr Pam Berry in the same way.”

If you want to celebrate your tutors at Mansfield and secure the future of your subject, you can make a gift to support the second Tutorial Fellowship in Geography today or contact James Bennett, Deputy Development Director at joc.bennett@mansfield.ox.ac.uk | +44(0)1865 270826.

Photos by: Ander McIntyre, 2022

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