Surveyor

Sources

• Historical records of the Survey of India (Dehra Dun, 1945-58) by Reginald Henry Phillimore. Comprises 5 volumes. Available on open shelves at British Library shelfmark OIR.354.54. Includes biographical notes of persons involved in the geographical and historical survey of India (the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India) from 1777 to 1843. Also available to read online, refer "Historical books online" below.

Also see

• Indian Navy for the Marine Survey of India.

External links

• "Colin Mackenzie: Collector Extraordinary" by David M.Blake British Library Journal 1991 pages 128-150. Mackenzie was an officer in the Madras Engineers and had arrived in Madras in 1783. At the time of his death in 1821, he was Surveyor-General of India.

"Spies or Pandits? Colin Mackenzie’s Indian Assistants, 1788 to 1821" 29 September 2017 British Library Untold lives blog.

• "The Trigonometrical Survey" by FC Danvers (a transcript of an article, possibly that in Quarterly Journal of Science VII 1870 pages 448-458) ces.iisc.ernet.in (archive.org link)
• "The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in a Historical Perspective" by Rana Deb Roy Indian Journal of History of Science 21(1):22-32 (1986)
• Man who mapped India sits forgotten under tree by M T Saju, June 10, 2013, Times of India. This article is about the bust of William Lambton, who launched his work for the Great Trigonometrical Survey on top of St Thomas Mount. On FIBIS on Facebook, Harshawardhan Bosham Nimkhedkar commented on 10 June 2013: Lambton died in Hinganghat, a small town in (the present-day) Chandrapur district of the western state of Maharashtra (about 100 kilometres from Nagpur). He was travelling up north, doing his survey work but fell ill near Hinganghat and died due dysentery. John Keay in his wonderful book The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India [see Historical books online, below] gives the details. Keay also discovered Lambton's crumbling tomb in a Moslem graveyard in Hinganghat and photographed it. Lambton was succeeded by George Everest (pronounced Eve-rest), after whom the world's tallest peak Mount Everest in the Himalayas is named.
• "Making Mountains out of Molehills? George Everest and Henry Barrow 1830-39" by Jane Insley Indian Journal of History of Science 30 (1) 1995, pages 47-55. Henry Barrow was the first Mathematical Instrument Maker chosen by George Everest to set up and run a workshop for the repair of defective equipment for the Survey of India.
• Land Surveys Banglapedia (National Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh). It is stated "The objectives of the revenue survey were to make accurate maps of the village boundaries and, sometimes, of the estate boundaries, showing topographical details, compiling certain statistical data for general administrative purposes, and making maps (usual scale: 4 inches = 1 mile and 1 inch = 1 mile) of each village and pargana"
• A pioneering institution [The Madras Survey School] by S. Muthiah 13 November 2002 The Hindu
• "Science in British India" by RK Kochhar Indian Journal of History of Science 34(4) 1999 pp317-346. Includes information about Surveys . Page 329 (page 13 of the link) states 'Madras Observatory ran a surveying school from 1794 to 1810 to train teenager European orphaned boys as practical revenue surveyors'.
• From 1794 the brighter students at the Madras Male Orphanage, usually boys of mixed blood, were recruited to the Survey school.
• Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich 1843 – 1929 His Life Story, Chapters 1-5 cover his time in India. (click on the drop down menu). He became a Royal Engineer and he was sent to India on attachment to the Survey Department. His first campaign was in Bhutan in 1865. This led to his permanent appointment to the Survey Department. He subsequently served in the 2nd Afghan War. he was appointed as Surveyor to the Historical Boundary Commission which was to settle the boundary between Russia and Afghanistan, and then Chief Commissioner to settle the boundary between Persia and Baluchistan He was involved with the 1898 campaign against the Afridis, but soon had to retire as he had reached the age of 55. The Holdich Family History Society, now archived. Thomas Holdich Wikipedia. For online books, refer below.
• "The Spies Who Mapped Great Swathes of South Asia by Foot" by Eleanor Cummins April 17, 2017. atlasobscura.com
• "The Troubled Land: Arunachal Dispute" by Anant Mishra Asia Times 22 February, 2015. Mentions some of the historical Boundary Lines, such as the Johnson Line, the McCartney-MacDonald Line, and the McMahon Line (scroll down).
• Colonel Charles & Ida Ryder 1868 – 1945. Royal Engineers and Survey of India, served in India, Burma, China, Tibet, Turco-Persian Boundary Commission, 1917-1918 Mesopotamia in World War 1, Royal & French Geographical Societies, FRGS Gold Medalist, Surveyor General of India 1919-1924. From the drop down menu at the top of the webpage under Colonel Charles Ryder there are links to other sections, including Burma and China 1894-1903; Tibet [1904]; Turco-Persian Boundary Commission 1913-1914 Ryder Archives.
• Obituary of Colonel Reginald Henry Phillimore 1879-1964 himalayanclub.org (archive.org link)
• "A British Boy in Wartime Burma" by Richard Hurley, 09 May 2005. bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar. The author's father was an official in the Survey of India, in Burma at the outbreak of war, who became part of a small Survey Group under Brigadier Guy Bomford, who was the Deputy Director of Survey in the 14th Army from 1942 to 1945.
• "Some Survey Memoirs of South India" by Barry Lewis 24 July 2015. Details memoirs of topographical and revenue surveys sponsored by the East India Company (EIC). barry-lewis.com
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - RICS, with headquarters in London. Previously the website advised there was a Library enquiry service for Family History which would search the archives for a fee, for biographical details of chartered surveyors. (Previously, for the relevant website page, select Knowledge/Enquires & library/Library services/Library enquiry service). However at 2017/4, this information no longer seems to appear on the website.

Historical books online

• Pahar- Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset includes a category 'Survey Of India' located under Books. Many books to download as pdfs. Includes a further category 'Lists of Officers (1872-1945)' consisting of Lists of Officers in the Survey Departments 1872-1890 and List of Officers in the Survey of India Department 1890- 1945 (broken range).
• Major James Rennell and the rise of modern English geography by Clements R Markham 1895 Archive.org. Rennell arrived in India with the Royal Navy in 1760, transferred to the East India Company in 1763, and in 1764 was appointed Surveyor-General of Bengal, and also was commissioned as a ensign in the Bengal Engineers, aged 21. He remained in India until 1777. James Rennell Wikipedia. Also see Gazetteers
• Memoir of Lieut.-Col. John Macdonald 1831 Google Books. He became a cadet of the Bombay Army in 1780, first in the infantry , then the Engineers. In 1782 he joined the Bengal Engineers and was sent to Bencoolen and mainly performed survey work in this area until 1796. (Note, an unrelated book follows the Memoir)
• "An Eighteenth- Century Subaltern In India" page 70, Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society Volume 44 July-Dec 1932 Archive.org. Digital Library of India Collection. Lieutenant (afterwards Major-General) John Anthony Hodgson of the Bengal Army arrived in India December 1799. He was subsequently Surveyor-General of India 1821-1829.
• ‪Memorials of Service in India‬: ‪from the correspondence of the late Major Samuel Charters Macpherson‬ Political Agent at Gwalior during the Mutiny, and formerly employed in the suppression of human sacrifices in Orissa 1865 Google Books. Archive.org (has better maps) He initially joined the Madras Army in 1827. In 1831 he was appointed assistant surveyor-general and was engaged in both military and survey work. In 1841 he was appointed as Assistant to the Agent at Ganjam, Political Agent at Bhopal in 1853, and Political Agent at Gwalior in 1854.
• A manual of surveying for India, detailing the mode of operations on the revenue surveys in Bengal and the North-western provinces by Ralph Smyth and Henry Edward Landor Thuillier 1851 Google Books
• A Memoir On The Indian Surveys by Clements R Markham Archive.org First Edition 1871, 2nd Edition 1878
• Account of the Survey Operations in connection with the Mission to Yarkand and Kashgar in 1873-74 by Captain Henry Trotter, RE, Deputy Superintendent, Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. 1875 Archive.org
• Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet by Sarat Chandra Das of the Bengal Educational Service. 1902. Archive.org. A journey in 1881-1882. Sarat Chandra Das exploringtibet.wikischolars.columbia.edu

Indian Pandits in the Land of Snow by Sarat Chandra Das 1893 Archive.org

• "Great Indian Trigonometrical Survey" from Ways and works in India being an account of the public works in that country from the earliest times up to the present day by G. W. Macgeorge 1894 Archive.org
• Account of the Operations of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India Archive.org
  • Volume X: Electro-Telegraphic Longitude Operations by Major G Strahan, R E 1887
  • Volume XVIII: Astronomical Observations for Latitude by Colonel S.G. Burrard 1906
  • Volume XIXA: Descriptions and Heights or Bench-Marks on the Southern Lines of Levelling by Colonel S.G. Burrard 1910 Archive.org
• Records of the Survey Of India Volume XVII Memoir On Maps Of Chinese Turkistan and Kensu from the Surveys made during Sir Aurel Stein’s Explorations 1900-1, 1906-8, 1913-1915 by Aurel Stein, Indian Archaelogical Survey 1923 (Trigonometrical Survey Office, Dehra Dun) Photographs, following page 208. Note this book/file does not contain any maps. Archive.org
• Records of the Survey of India, Volume 20. The War Record 1914-1920 1925. If the download button does not display, locate in Books/Survey Of India, or Direct link PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. Google Books version (now full view). Archive.org version. Work of Royal Engineers and other staff of the Survey of India mapping in various theatres of war, in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Arabia, Persia, Palestine, East Africa and Afghanistan.

Many other volumes of Records are also available on PAHAR.

• Records Of The Survey Of India Vol-XXII Exploration Of The Shaksgam Valley And Aghil Ranges 1926 by Major Kenneth Mason RE 1928 Archive.org.
• Historical Records of the Survey of India by Colonel R H Phillimore (late Royal Engineers and Survey of India). Read online or download as pdfs Archive.org
  • Volume I 18th Century published 1945
    • Contents, Biographical Notes page 308, Index, Additional Volume I corrections (from Volume II), Additional Volume I corrections (from Volume III) Additional corrections (from Volume IV) Some of the maps from Volume I
  • Volume II 1800-1815 published 1950
    • Contents, Biographical Notes page 376, Index, Additional Volume II corrections (from Volume III). Additional corrections (from Volume IV)
  • Volume III 1815-1830 published 1954
    • Contents, Nominal Roll, Civil Assistants Bengal, page 370, Nominal Roll, Civil Assistants Madras and Bombay page 384, Biographical Notes page 422, Index, page 517. Additional corrections (from Volume IV) and more corrections (from Volume IV)
  • Volume IV 1830 to 1843 George Everest [Surveyor General and Superintendent] published 1958 Archive.org
    • Contents, Biographical Notes page 415, Index page 477
  • Volume V 1844-1861, published 1968, (first published 1964) may be downloaded as a pdf from Digital Himalaya at University of Cambridge, UK,(scroll down) (as may earlier volumes) (large files up to 47 MB). Also available as a pdf download Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download button does not display locate under Books/Survey Of India/RH Phillimore and the Historical Records. Archive.org edition also containing Volumes 1-4. Vol. 5, File 2 Archive.org.
    Volume V was withdrawn by the Indian Government soon after it was published, because of political reasons [strategic sensitivity of some of the subject matter], so it is not widely available.
• "Geographical Surveying In India" by Colonel Sir T H Holdich 1898 Paper XI, Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers: Occassional Papers Volume XX˜IV 1898 pages 289-305 Archive.org

The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Colonel Sir T Hungerford Holdich 1901 edition, Second and cheaper edition 1909 Archive.org

India by Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich 1904 Archive.org

The Gates of India, being an Historical Narrative by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich 1910. Archive.org.

Political Frontiers and Boundary Making by Col. Sir Thomas H Holdich 1916 Archive.org.

• Routes in Western-Himalaya Kashmir &c Volume 1 Punch, Kashmir, Ladakh [Púnch, Kashmír & Ladákh] by Kenneth Mason. Published under the direction of the Surveyor General of India, 1922 and printed at the Office of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, Dehra Dun. 2nd edition 1929, Revised and corrected. Pdf downloads, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. 1922 Archive.org mirror version, 1929 Archive.org mirror version. 1929 File 2 Archive.org.
• The Forbidden Frontiers–the Survey of India from 1765 to 1949 by Frank Showell Styles 1970 Pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If the download button does not display, locate in Books/Survey Of India. Archive.org mirror version.
• The Pundits : British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia by Derek Waller catalogued 1988, other indications are 1990. Pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download button does not display, locate under Books/Tibet. Archive.org Books to borrow/Lending Library

1990 Thomas Montgomerie and the Trans-Himalayan Explorers of the Survey of India by Waller. Pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download button does not display, locate under Books/Survey of India/(end section). Archive.org mirror version. Possibly 1983 article Annals Assoc.Asian Stud. Southeast Conf. 5: 27-35.

• The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest Named by John Keay 2000. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Also available as a pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download button does not display, locate under Books/Geodesy, Surveying And Astronomy. Archive.org mirror version.
• A catalogue of manuscript and printed reports, field books, memoirs, maps, etc., of the Indian Surveys, deposited in the Map Room of the India Office Printed by order of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India in Council. 1878 Archive.org

Same underlying text, but with handwritten alterations, deletions etc, with a link to a pdf download. British Library bl.iro.bl.uk