Henry James (geodesist)
Sir Henry James (born June 8, 1803 in Rose-in-Vale near St Agnes , Cornwall , England , † June 14, 1877 in Southampton , Hampshire ) was an English officer and geodesist .
Live and act
He was the son of John James of Truro and his wife Jane, daughter of John Hosken of Carines.
He attended the Military Academy in Woolwich and in 1825 became Second Lieutenant of the Royal Engineers . In 1848 he was promoted to captain , in 1854 to lieutenant-colonel , in 1857 to colonel , in 1868 to major-general and in 1874 to lieutenant-general . In 1844 he became director of the geological survey of Ireland , in 1846 director of admiralty operations at Portsmouth, in 1852 chief of the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom and in 1857 head of the topographical and statistical department of the War Department. He gave up the latter post in 1870.
He wrote the following works:
- Notice of the arrangements which have been made for taking meteorological observations at the principal foreign stations of the Royal Engineers (London 1851);
- Ordnance trigonometrical survey of Ireland (London 1858);
- Abstract of the principal lines of spirit leveling in England and Wales (London 1861);
- Account of the principal triangulation of the United Kingdom (London 1864);
- Record of the expedition to Abyssinia (London 1870).
With the help of the photocincographic process developed in the Ordnance Survey , he created a facsimile of the entire Doomesday book (32 vols.), Facsimiles of national manuscripts of William the Conqueror to Queen Anne , Facsimiles of national manuscripts of Scotland (1867) and of Ireland ( Dublin 1874).
He married Anne Watson, daughter of Major-General Edward Watson.
Honors
James was a member of the Geological Society of London . In 1848 he was accepted as a Fellow in the Royal Society . In 1860 he was beaten to a Knight Bachelor and in 1863 awarded the Spanish Order de Isabel la Católica .
Literature and web links
- RH Vetch, Elizabeth Baigent: James, Sir Henry (1803–1877). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 29, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X ( online edition ).
- Entry to James; Sir; Henry (1803-1877); Knight Director General of the Ordnance Survey in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | James, Henry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English officer and geodesist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 8, 1803 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rose-in-Vale at St Agnes , Cornwall , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 14, 1877 |
| Place of death | Southampton , Hampshire |