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. Volume V, to 1861, may be downloaded as a pdf.

Also see

• Indian Navy for the Marine Survey of India.

External links

• "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 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 html version, pdf version 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 (retrieved 14 April 2014). Thomas Holdich Wikipedia. For online books, refer below.
• Obituary of Colonel Reginald Henry Phillimore 1879-1964 himalayanclub.org (archive.org link)
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has a library (under the heading Resources) and will search their archives for biographical information for a fee.

Historical books online

• 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)
• ‪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
• "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
• 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
• 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 Yale,(scroll down) (as may earlier volumes) (large files up to 47 MB). Volume V was withdrawn by the Indian Government soon after it was published, because of the strategic sensitivity of some of the subject matter. so it is not widely available.

Volumes I-IV are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website

• "Geographical Surveying In India" by Colonel Sir T H Holdich 1898 Paper XI, Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers: Occassional Papers Volume XXIV 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
• Political Frontiers and Boundary Making by Col. Sir Thomas H Holdich 1916