| Founder's Medal | |
| Current Awards: | --> |
| Image Upright: | --> |
| Awarded For: | the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery |
| Sponsor: | Sovereign of the United Kingdom |
| Venue: | or |
| Site: | --> |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Presenter: | Royal Geographical Society |
| Hosts: | --> |
| Former Name: | Royal Premium |
| Year: | 1832 |
The Founder's Medal is a medal awarded annually by the Royal Geographical Society, upon approval of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, to individuals for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery".
From its foundation, the society received an annual grant from the Sovereign of the United Kingdom for awards with royal approval. The medal originated from an annual donation starting in 1831 of 50 guineas from King William IV. The award was instituted as the Royal Premium or Royal Award, an annual cash prize. In 1836, the society with agreement from King William IV, decided to allocate half of the premium to a 'Gold Medal'. This would be awarded by the Sovereign, on the advice of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society. Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne before the first gold medal, which was designed in coordination with King William IV, was awarded. Queen Victoria announced her intention of continuing the grant commenced by her uncle. The council ultimately decided to divide the grant into two gold medals of equal standing; the Founder's Medal in memory of the founding patron King William IV and the Patron's Medal with the image of Queen Victoria as the active royal patron of the society.
The medal, like the Patron's Medal, is a gold medallion designed by William Wyon, Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint. The obverse side has a portrait of William IV. The reverse side shows a figure of Britannia, wearing a helmet and standing by a sextant and globe. She is holding a wreath in her outstretched right hand and a map in the left. The name of the recipient is engraved on the edge of the medal. The medal was struck in gold until 1974. From 1975 onwards it has been struck in silver-gilt. Exceptionally, on account of wars, the medals of 1918−21 and 1940 were struck in bronze.
While generally awarded annually, the Founder's Medal was not awarded in the years 1850, 1851, 1855, 1913, 1943 and 1944. In 1850, the Patron's Medal was awarded but instead of awarding a Founder's Medal the council presented David Livingstone with a chronometer watch for 'his journey to the great lake of Ngami'. In 1851, the council awarded no gold medals and instead awarded 25 guinea prizes to each of Georg August Wallin and Thomas Brunner. In 1855, the Patron's Medal was awarded but instead of awarding a Founder's Medal the council presented Charles John Andersson with a set of surveying instruments (containing a sextant and stand, artificial horizon, watch, thermometers and measuring tapes). Awarding a prize funded by the annual royal grant that was not a medal recognized the valuable work of the recipient while concurrently indicating "the service had not been of sufficient importance to justify the award of a gold medal, the highest award at the disposal of the society." In 1913, the Patron's Medal was awarded but instead of awarding a Founder's Medal the council presented an engraved casket to Kathleen Scott containing the Patron's Medal and the Special Antarctic Medal awarded to her late husband Robert Falcon Scott. No awards were made in 1943 or 1944 on account of the Second World War.
| Year | Name | Image | Description | Award Rationale | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | Richard Lemon Lander | Cornish explorer | For the discovery of the course of the River Niger or Quorra, and its outlets in the Gulf of Benin | |||
| 1833 | John Biscoe | English mariner and explorer | For the discovery of the land now named "Enderby's Land" and "Graham's Land" in the Antarctic Ocean | |||
| 1834 | John Ross | Scottish Royal Navy officer and polar explorer | For his discovery of Boothia Felix and King William Land and for his famous sojourn of four winters in the Arctic | |||
| 1835 | Alexander Burnes | Explorer, political officer in British India (1805-1841) | For his remarkable and important journeys through Persia | |||
| 1836 | George Back | British Royal Navy admiral (1796–1878) | For his recent discoveries in the Arctic, and his memorable journey down the Great Fish River | |||
| 1837 | Robert Fitzroy | English Vice-Admiral of the Royal Navy and scientist (1805–1865) | For his survey of the coasts of South America, from the Rio de la Plata to Guayaquil in Peru | |||
| 1838 | Francis Rawdon Chesney | British Army general | For valuable materials in comparative and physical geography in Syria, Mesopotamia and the delta ofSusiana | |||
| 1839 | Thomas Simpson | Scottish arctic explorer | For tracing the hitherto unexplored coast to the west between Return Reef and point Barrow, in 1837; and during the past year has discovered 90 miles of coast eastward from Point Turnagain of Franklin, on the northern shore of America. | |||
| 1840 | Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet | British politician (1810-1895) | l for his travels and researches in Susiana and Persian Kurdistan, and for the light thrown by hom on the comparative geography of Western Asia. | |||
| 1841 | Henry Raper | British Royal Navy officer (1799-1859) | For excellent work on Practical Navigation and Nautical Astronomy | |||
| 1842 | James Clark Ross | British explorer and naval officer (1800–1862) | For his brilliant achievement at the South Pole, to within less than 12° of which he safely navigated hisvessels, discovering a great Antarctic continent | |||
| 1843 | Edward John Eyre | British explorer and colonial administrator (1815–1901) | For his enterprising and extensive explorations in Australia, under circumstances of peculiar difficulty | |||
| 1844 | William John Hamilton | British geologist (1805-1867) | For valuable researches in Asia Minor | |||
| 1845 | Charles Tilstone Beke | British geographer | For his exploration in Abyssinia | |||
| 1846 | Paweł Strzelecki | Polish explorer and geologist | For exploration in the south eastern portion of Australia | |||
| 1847 | Charles Sturt | Australian explorer (1795-1869) | For explorations in Australia, and especially for his journey fixing the limit of Lake Torrens and penetrating into the heart of the continent to lat. 24° 30'S, long. 138° 0'E | |||
| 1848 | James Brooke | White Rajah of Sarawak (1803-1868) | For his expedition to Borneo, and the zeal he has shown in promoting geographical discovery | |||
| 1849 | Austen Henry Layard | British politician (1817–1894) | For important contributions to Asiatic Geography, interesting researches in Mesopotamia, and for his discovery of the remains of Nineveh | |||
| 1852 | John Rae | Scottish explorer (1813-1893) | For his survey of Boothia undermost severe privations and for his very important contributions to the Geography of the Arctic | |||
| 1853 | Francis Galton | English polymath: geographer, statistician, eugenicist | For fitting out and conducting in Expedition to explore the centre of Southern Africa | |||
| 1854 | William Henry Smyth | English naval officer and hydrographer (1788-1865) | For his valuable Maritime Surveys in the Mediterranean | |||
| 1856 | Elisha Kent Kane | American explorer and military medical officer | For services and discoveries in the Polar Regions during the American Expeditions in search of Sir JohnFranklin | |||
| 1857 | Augustus Charles Gregory | Australian explorer (1819-1905) | For extensive and important explorations in Western and Northern Australia | |||
| 1858 | Richard Collinson | British Royal Navy admiral (1811-1883) | For discoveries in the Arctic Regions | |||
| 1859 | Richard Francis Burton | British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat | For his various exploratory enterprises, and especially for his perilous expedition with Captain. J. H. Speke to the great lakes in Eastern Africa | |||
| 1860 | Jane Franklin | British explorer | For self-sacrificing perseverance in sending out expeditions to ascertain the fate of her husband | |||
| 1861 | John Hanning Speke | British military officer and explorer | For his eminent geographical discoveries in Africa, and especially his discovery of the great lake Victoria Nyanza | |||
| 1862 | Robert O'Hara Burke | Australian explorer | In remembrance of that gallant explorer who with his companion Wills, perished after having traversed the continent of Australia | |||
| 1863 | Francis Thomas Gregory | English-born Australian explorer and politician (1821–1888) | For successful explorations in Western Australia | |||
| 1864 | James Augustus Grant | Scottish explorer and collector (1827 – 1892) | For his journey across Eastern Equatorial Africa with Captain Speke | |||
| 1865 | Thomas George Montgomerie | English surveyor who worked in India (1830-1878) | For his great trigonometrical journey from the plains of the Punjab to the Karakoram Range | |||
| 1866 | Thomas Thomson | Scottish doctor and botanist (1817-1878) | For his researches in the Western Himalayas and Thibet | |||
| 1867 | Aleksei Butakov | Russian admiral and explorer | For being first to launch and navigate ships in the Sea of Aral and for his survey of the mouths of the Oxus | |||
| 1868 | August Heinrich Petermann | German cartographer (1822-1878) | For his important services as a Writer and Cartographer and Science, and for his well-known publication the Geographische Mitteilungen which for twelve years has greatly aided the process of Geography. | |||
| 1869 | Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | Finland Swedish baron, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer (1832–1901) | For designing and carrying out the Swedish expeditions to Spitzbergen ... whereby great additions havebeen made to our acquitance with zoology, botany, geology and meteorology | |||
| 1870 | George W. Hayward | British explorer | For his journey into Eastern Turkistan, and for reaching the Pamir Steppe | |||
| 1871 | Roderick Murchison, 1st Baronet | geologist (1792-1871) | Who for 40 years watched over the Society with more than paternal solicitude, and has at length placed it among the foremost of our scientific Societies | |||
| 1872 | Henry Yule | Scottish orientalist | For eminent services to Geography | |||
| 1873 | Ney Elias | British explorer (1844-1897) | For his enterprise and ability in surveying the course of the Yellow River, and for his journey through Western Mongolia | |||
| 1874 | Georg August Schweinfurth | German explorer and scientist (1836-1925) | For his explorations in Africa | |||
| 1875 | Carl Georg Ludwig Wilhelm Weyprecht | Austrian explorer (1838-1881) | For his enterprise and ability in command of expeditions to Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla | |||
| 1876 | Verney Lovett Cameron | traveller from England | For his journey across Africa from Zanzibar to Benguela, and his survey of Lake Tanganyika | |||
| 1877 | George Nares | British naval officer and Arctic explorer (1831-1915) | For having commanded the Arctic Expedition of 1875/6, during which ships and sledge parties reached a higher Northern latitude than had previously been attained | |||
| 1878 | Ferdinand von Richthofen | German traveller, geographer and scientist (1833-1905) | For his extensive travels and scientific explorations in China | |||
| 1879 | Nikolay Przhevalsky | Russian soldier, explorer, & geographer (1839-1888) | For successive expeditions and route-surveys in Mongolia and the high plateau of Northern Tibet | |||
| 1880 | Louis Palander | Swedish admiral | For his services in connection with the Swedish Arctic Expeditions in the Vega | |||
| 1881 | Alexandre de Serpa Pinto | Explorer and soldier | For his journey across Africa during which he explored 500 miles of new country | |||
| 1882 | Gustav Nachtigal | German explorer of Central and West Africa | For his journeys through the Eastern Sahara | |||
| 1883 | Joseph Dalton Hooker | British botanist, lichenologist, and surgeon (1817–1911) | For eminent services to scientific Geography | |||
| 1884 | Archibald Ross Colquhoun | Rhodesian politician (1848-1914) | For his journey from Canton to the Irrawadi | |||
| 1885 | Joseph Thomson | Scottish geologist and explorer | For his zeal, promptitude and success during two expeditions into East Central Africa | |||
| 1886 | Adolphus Greely | American army officer and polar explorer | For having so considerably added to our knowledge of the shores of the Polar Sea and the interior of Grinnell Land | |||
| 1887 | Thomas Holdich | English geographer, writer and soldier; surveyed the Indian frontier, and Chilean-Argentine border | For zeal and devotion in carrying out surveys of Afghanistan | |||
| 1888 | Clements Markham | British geographer (1830-1916) | In acknowledgment or the value or his numerous contributions to geographical literature ... on his retirement from the Secretaryship of the Society after 25 years’ service | |||
| 1889 | Arthur Douglas Carey | British traveller in Central Asia (?-1936) | For his remarkable journey in Central Asia during which he travelled 4750 miles through regions never visited by an Englishman | |||
| 1890 | Emin Pasha | German colonial governor (1840-1892) | For the great services he rendered to Geography during his twelve years’ administration of the Equatorial Province of Egypt | |||
| 1891 | James Hector | Scottish born New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon (1834-1907) | For investigations pursued as Naturalist to the Palliser expedition | |||
| 1892 | Alfred Russel Wallace | British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist (1823-1913) | The well-known naturalist and traveller and co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the theory of natural selection, in recognition of the high geographical value of his great works | |||
| 1893 | Frederick Selous | British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist | In recognition of twenty years’ exploration and surveys in South Africa | |||
| 1894 | Hamilton Bower | British general | For his remarkable journey across Tibet, from west to east | |||
| 1895 | John Murray | Scottish oceanographer, marine biologist and limnologist | For services to physical Geography, especially oceanography, and for his work on board the Challenger | |||
| 1896 | William MacGregor | British colonial governor and administrator (1846-1919) | For services to Geography in British New Guinea, in exploring, mapping and giving information on the natives | |||
| 1897 | Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky | Russian geographer, art collector and statistician (1827-1914) | For his long-continued efforts in promoting Russian exploration in Central Asia | |||
| 1898 | Sven Hedin | Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator (1865-1952) | For important exploring work in Central Asia | |||
| 1899 | Louis Gustave Binger | French explorer (1856-1936) | For valuable work within the great bend of the Niger | |||
| 1900 | Henry Hugh Peter Deasy | British Army officer and businessman (1866-1947) | For exploring and survey work in Central Asia | |||
| 1901 | Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi | Italian explorer | For his journey to the summit of Mount St. Elias, and for his Arctic voyage in the Stella Polare | |||
| 1902 | Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard | British colonial administrator (1858-1945) | For persistent attention to African Geography | |||
| 1903 | Douglas William Freshfield | British lawyer, mountaineer and author | In recognition of his valuable contributions to our knowledge of the Caucasus | |||
| 1904 | Harry Johnston | British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator (1858-1927) | For his many valuable services towards the exploration of Africa | |||
| 1905 | Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington | British politician (1856-1937) | For explorations in the mountain regions of Spitsbergen | |||
| 1906 | Alfred Grandidier | French naturalist and explorer | The veteran French savant who for forty years has devoted himself to the exploration of Madagascar, and for his monumental work on the island in 52 large quarto volumes | |||
| 1907 | Francisco Moreno | Argentinian explorer and naturalist (1852–1919) | For extensive explorations in the Patagonian Andes | |||
| 1908 | Boyd Alexander | British Army officer, explorer and ornithologist (1873-1910) | For his three years’ journey across Africa from the Niger to the Nile | |||
| 1909 | Aurel Stein | Hungarian-British archaeologist (1862-1943) | For his extensive explorations in Central Asia, and in particular his archaeological work | |||
| 1910 | Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen | English geologist, topographer and surveyor | For geographical discoveries and surveys along the North-eastern frontier of India, especially his pioneerexploring in the Karakoram | |||
| 1911 | Pyotr Kozlov | Russian explorer | For explorations in the Gobi desert, Northern Tibet and Mongolia | |||
| 1912 | Charles Montagu Doughty | British poet (1843-1926) | For his remarkable exploration in Northern Arabia, and for his classic work in which the results weredescribed | |||
| 1914 | Albrecht Penck | German geologist and geographer | For his advancement of almost every branch of scientific geography, and in particular his idea of anInternational map of the world on the millionth scale | |||
| 1915 | Douglas Mawson | Australian geologist and explorer of the Antarctic (1882-1958) | For his conduct of the Australian Antarctic Expedition which achieved highly important scientific results | |||
| 1916 | Percy Fawcett | British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist | For his contributions to the mapping of South America | |||
| 1917 | David George Hogarth | British archaeologist (1862-1927) | For explorations in Asiatic Turkey | |||
| 1918 | Gertrude Bell | English writer, traveller, political officer, archaeologist (1868-1926) | For her important explorations and travels in Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia and on the Euphrates | |||
| 1919 | Evan Maclean Jack | British cartographer (1873-1951) | For his geographical work on the Western Front | |||
| 1920 | St John Philby | English Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer | For his two journeys in South Central Arabia | |||
| 1921 | Vilhjalmur Stefansson | Canadian-born explorer (1879–1962) | For his distinguished services in the exploration of the Arctic Ocean | |||
| 1922 | Charles Howard-Bury | British soldier, explorer, botanist and Conservative politician (1883-1963) | For his distinguished services in command of the Mount Everest Expedition | |||
| 1923 | Knud Rasmussen | Danish explorer and anthropologist | For exploration and research in the Arctic regions | |||
| 1924 | Ahmed Hassanein Pasha | رئيس الديوان الملكي سابقاً Egyptian politician and geographic explorer | For his journey to Kufra and Darfur | |||
| 1925 | Charles Granville Bruce | British mountain climber | For lifelong geographical work in the exploration of the Himalaya and his leadership of the Mount Everest Expedition of 1922 | |||
| 1926 | Edward Felix Norton | British army officer and mountaineer | For his distinguished leadership of the Mount Everest Expedition, 1924, and his ascent to 28,100 feet | |||
| 1927 | Kenneth Mason | British geographer | For his connection between the surveys of India and Russian Turkestan, and his leadership of the Shakshagam Expedition | |||
| 1928 | Tom George Longstaff | British explorer (1875-1964) | For long-continued geographical work in the Himalaya | |||
| 1929 | Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell | British Army general (1895-1978) | For his journeys in the Sahara and his studies of the Tuareg people | |||
| 1930 | Frank Kingdon-Ward | British botanist (1885-1958) | For geographical exploration, and work on botanical distribution in China and Tibet | |||
| 1931 | Bertram Thomas | Civil servant and explorer | For geographical work in Arabia and his successful crossing of the Rub al Khali | |||
| 1932 | Gino Watkins | British Arctic explorer | For his work in the Arctic Regions, especially as leader of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition | |||
| 1933 | James Wordie | Scottish polar explorer | For work in Polar explorations | |||
| 1934 | Hugh Ruttledge | British colonial administrator | For his journeys in the Himalayas and his leadership of the Mount Everest Expedition, 1933 | |||
| 1935 | Ralph Alger Bagnold | British Army officer (1896-1990) | For journeys in the Libyan Desert | |||
| 1936 | George W. Murray | surveyor (1885-1966), working in Egypt | For explorations and surveys in the deserts of Sinai and Eastern Egypt, and his studies of the Badawin tribes | |||
| 1937 | Clinton Gresham Lewis | surveyor (1885-1978) | For surveys in Iraq, Syria and the Irrawaddy Delta, and for his work on the Afghan and Turco-Iraq Boundary Commissions | |||
| 1938 | John Rymill | Australian explorer (1905–1968) | For the valuable scientific work of his British Grahamland Expedition | |||
| 1939 | Arthur Mortimer Champion | surveyor and administrator in British Kenya (1885-1950) | For his surveys of the Turkana Province (Kenya) and the volcanoes south of lake Rudolf | |||
| 1940 | Doreen Ingrams | Ingrams [née Shortt], Doreen Constance (1906–1997), actress and traveller | For exploration and studies in the Hadhramaut | |||
| 1940 | Harold Ingrams | British colonial official (1897-1973) | For exploration and studies in the Hadhramaut | |||
| 1941 | Pat Clayton | British intelligence officer | For his surveys in the Libyan desert, and his application of his experience to desert warfare. | |||
| 1942 | Freya Madeline Stark | British travel writer (1893-1993) | For her travels in the East and her account of them | |||
| 1945 | Charles Camsell | Canadian politician and geologist (1876-1958) | For his contributions to the geology of the North | |||
| 1946 | Edward Aubrey Glennie | For his work on geodesy in India and his contributions to mapping in the Far East | ||||
| 1947 | Martin Hotine | British Army officer (1898-1968) | For research work in Air Survey and for his cartographic work | |||
| 1948 | Wilfred Thesiger | British explorer (1910-2003) | For contributions to the Geography of Southern Arabia and for his crossing of the Rub al Khali desert | |||
| 1949 | Laurence Dudley Stamp | British geographer (1898-1966) | For his work in organising the Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain and his application of Geography to National planning | |||
| 1950 | George F. Walpole | director of the Department of Lands and Survey, Jordan | For contributions to the mapping of the Western Desert of Egypt | |||
| 1951 | Vivian Fuchs | British explorer | For his contributions to Antarctic exploration and his research as leader of the survey 1948-50 | |||
| 1952 | Bill Tilman | British explorer | For exploratory work among the mountains of East Africa and Central Asia | |||
| 1953 | Patrick Douglas Baird | glaciologist (1912-1984) | For explorations in the Canadian Arctic | |||
| 1954 | John Hunt, Baron Hunt | British mountaineer, explorer and army officer (1910-1998) | Leader of the British Mount Everest Expedition | |||
| 1955 | John Kirtland Wright | American geographer | For services in the development of geographical research and exploration | |||
| 1956 | John Schjelderup Giæver | Norwegian writer | Leader of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, for contributions to Polar exploration | |||
| 1957 | Ardito Desio | Italian explorer | For geographical exploration and surveys in the Himalayas | |||
| 1958 | Paul Siple | American explorer (1908-1968) | For contributions to Antarctic exploration and research | |||
| 1959 | William Anderson | United States naval officer | For the first trans-Polar submarine voyage in command of USS Nautilus | |||
| 1960 | Phillip Law | Australian scientist and explorer | For Antarctic exploration and research | |||
| 1961 | Mikhail Somov | Soviet ocenographer and polar explorer | For Antarctic exploration and research | |||
| 1962 | Edwin McDonald | United States Navy captain | For coastal explorations in the Bellingshausen Sea (Antarctica) | |||
| 1963 | Jacques Cousteau | French Naval Officer who co-invented open circuit demand scuba | For underwater exploration and research | |||
| 1964 | Louis Leakey | British archaeologist and naturalist | For palaeographical exploration and discoveries in East Africa | |||
| 1965 | Fred Roots | geologist and explorer (1923–2016) | For Polar exploration and research, with special reference to the Canadian Arctic | |||
| 1966 | Edred John Henry Corner | English botanist and mycologist (1906-1996) | For botanical exploration in North Borneo and the Solomon Islands | |||
| 1967 | Cláudio Villas-Bôas | Brazilian sertanista (1916-1998) | For contributions to exploration and development in the Mato Grosso | |||
| 1967 | Orlando Villas Bôas | Brazilian anthropologist | For contributions to exploration and development in the Mato Grosso | |||
| 1968 | W. Brian Harland | British geologist (1917-2003) | For Arctic exploration and research | |||
| 1969 | Rodolfo Panzarini | naval officer and Antarctic explorer | For services to Antarctic exploration and research and to international co-operation in Antarctic science | |||
| 1970 | Wally Herbert | British polar explorer (1934-2007) | For Arctic and Antarctic exploration and surveys | |||
| 1971 | George Deacon | British oceanographer and chemist (1906-1984) | For oceanographical research and exploration | |||
| 1972 | George Stephen Ritchie | Royal Navy admiral (1914-2012) | For hydrographical charting and oceanographical exploration | |||
| 1973 | Norman Falcon | British geologist (1904-1996) | Leader, the RGS’s Musandam [North Oman] Expedition. For contributions to the geographical history of thePersian Gulf region | |||
| 1974 | Chris Bonington | British mountaineer | For mountain explorations | |||
| 1975 | Laurence Kirwan | British archaeologist and geographer | For contributions to the geographical history of the Nubian Nile valley and Eastern Africa, and for services toexploration | |||
| 1976 | Brian Birley Roberts | polar expert and ornithologist (1912-1978) | For Polar exploration, and for contributions to Antarctic research and political negotiation | |||
| 1977 | Michael John Wise | geographer (1918-2015) | For economic Geography, and for his contributions to international understanding in geographical teaching | |||
| 1978 | Reginald Llewellyn Brown | British military officer and surveyor, Director-General of the Ordnance Survey (1895-1983) | For services to the science of map-making | |||
| 1979 | David Stoddart | geographer | For contributions to geomorphology, the study of coral reefs and the history of academic Geography | |||
| 1980 | William Richard Mead | British geographer (1915-2014) | ||||
| 1981 | Keith John Miller | mechanical engineer, explorer and mountaineer (1932-2006) | ||||
| 1982 | Michael Ward | British surgeon and mountaineer (1925-2005) | For high-altitude medical research and leadership of the British Mount Kongur Expedition | |||
| 1983 | Peter Scott | British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman (1909-1989) | ||||
| 1984 | Ranulph Fiennes | British explorer (born 1944) | ||||
| 1985 | David Attenborough | British broadcaster and naturalist | ||||
| 1986 | Tim Severin | British explorer, historian, writer (1940-2020) | ||||
| 1987 | Anthony Seymour Laughton | British oceanographer | ||||
| 1988 | Peter Hall | town planner, urbanist and geographer (1932-2014) | ||||
| 1989 | Monica Kristensen Solås | Norwegian explorer | ||||
| 1990 | John Hemming | Canadian explorer | ||||
| 1991 | Andrew Goudie | British geographer | ||||
| 1992 | Alan Wilson | British mathematician and geographer | For contributions to the study of urban and regional systems. | |||
| 1993 | Kenneth J. Gregory | British geographer (1938–2020) | For contributions to hydrology and geomorphology. | |||
| 1994 | Ronald Urwick Cooke | British geographer | for contribution to geomorphology. | |||
| 1995 | Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook | zoologist, environmental biologist and author (1933-), chairman of the Institute for European Environmental Policy | ||||
| 1996 | John Woods | British oceanographer | for contributions to oceanography | |||
| 1997 | Tony Wrigley | British historical demographer | ||||
| 1998 | Robert J. Bennett | economic geographer (1948-) | ||||
| 1999 | Mike Kirkby | British geographer | For contributions to the development of processed-based and modelling approaches in geomorphology | |||
| 2000 | Brian Robson | geographer at the University of Manchester | For contributions to urban geography and geographical perspectives to urban policy | |||
| 2001 | William L. Graf | American geographer (1947-2019) | For contributions to research on dryland river processes, and the interactions of science and public policy | |||
| 2002 | Bruno Messerli | Swiss geographer and university professor (1931-2019) | For contributions to mountain research and the public awareness of mountain issues | |||
| 2003 | Michael Frank Goodchild | professor of geographic information science | For contributions to geographical information science | |||
| 2004 | Leszek Starkel | Polish geographer | For advancing international understanding of palaeohydrology and geomorphology | |||
| 2005 | Nicholas Shackleton | British geologist (1937-2006) | For research on Quaternary palaeoclimatology | |||
| 2006 | Derek Gregory | British geographer | For international leadership of research in human geography and social theory | |||
| 2007 | Roger G. Barry | British-born American climatologist and geographer (1935-2018) | For international leadership of research on climate and climate change | |||
| 2008 | Julian A. Dowdeswell | British glaciologist | For the encouragement, development and promotion of glaciology | |||
| 2009 | Alan R. H. Baker | Geographer at the University of Cambridge (1938-) | For contributions to historical geography | |||
| 2010 | Diana Liverman | geographer and science writer | For encouraging, developing and promoting understanding of the human dimensions of climate change | |||
| 2011 | David N. Livingstone | British academic | For the encouragement and promotion of historical geography | |||
| 2012 | Charles W. J. Withers | Scottish linguist and geographer | For the encouragement and development of historical and cultural geography | |||
| 2013 | Keith S. Richards | geographer at the University of Cambridge | For the encouragement and development of physical geography and fluvial geomorphology | |||
| 2014 | Geoffrey Boulton | British geologist | For the development and promotion of glaciology | |||
| 2015 | Michael Batty | British academic | For development and promotion of the geographical science of cities | |||
| 2016 | Michael Storper | economic and urban geographer | For scholarship and leadership in human and economic geography | |||
| 2017 | Gordon Conway | British ecologist | For the enhancement and promotion of agricultural development in Asia and Africa | |||
| 2018 | Paul Rose | British explorer and TV presenter | For scientific expeditions and enhancing public understanding | |||
| 2019 | Trevor J. Barnes | Canadian geographer | For sustained excellence and pioneering developments in the field of economic geography | |||
| 2020 | Heather A. Viles | geographer | For her excellence in establishing the field of biogeomorphology | |||
| 2021 | Andy Eavis | speleologist & mining engineer | For significant contribution in leading speleological expeditions, exploring and recording some of the largest caves in the world for over 50 years | |||
| 2022 | David Hempleman-Adams | British industrialist and adventurer | For enabling science through expeditions, and inspiring younger generations of geographers | |||
| 2023 | Andrew W. Mitchell | zoologist | For his lifetime’s contribution to protect tropical rainforests and combat climate change |