John Turnbull Thomson

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John Turnbull Thomson
Thomson Memorial in Ranfurly, New Zealand.

John Turnbull Thomson (born August 10, 1821 on Glororum near Bamburgh , † October 16, 1884 in Invercargill ) was a British engineer and amateur painter who later worked in Singapore and New Zealand and played an important role in the early development of Singapore and in the 19th century New Zealand played.

childhood and education

Thomson was born on August 10, 1821 on the Glororum farm near Bamburgh in Northumberland, England, the third child of Alexander Thomson and his wife Janet, née Turnbull. His father was the third son of James Thomson of Earnslaw in Berwickshire and his mother was a daughter of John Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathan's in Berwickshire. He was baptized in Warenford on September 28th .

After his father was killed in a hunting accident in 1830, his mother moved him back to her parents' home in Abbey St. Bathan's. He received his education at Wooler and Duns Academy (Duns Academy). Here he came into contact with the sons of large landowners on the island of Penang , which as a child became the land of his dreams.

He took a math course at Marischal College in Aberdeen and was briefly at Edinburgh University . He then studied engineering at Peter Nicholson's School of Engineering in Newcastle-on-Tyne .

Thomson received an order from the British East India Company to survey the lands of Scott, Brown and Company on Penang and embarked for East Asia in 1838.

Singapore

Thomson arrived at a young age in the British Straits Settlements in South Asia in 1838 and worked from 1838 to 1841 on surveying work in the jungles of Penang and the neighboring province of Wellesley . This was a lonely life full of privation.

The high quality of the resulting maps drew the attention of the governor of the Straits Settlements , then George Bonham . In October 1841 he appointed him government surveyor and engineer for the Eastern Settlements , particularly Singapore. In 1844 he became superintendent construction manager for road construction and public works.

In Singapore, he was responsible for the design and construction of a number of major structures including bridges, roads and hospitals. He carried out the land surveying of Singapore, the topographical survey of the island of Singapore and associated areas and (together with Captain Congalton) the creation of sea maps of the sea areas of the Strait of Singapore and the east coasts of Johore and Penang . A large number of cards were created in the process. His most important work from 1847 to 1851 was the construction of the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca on the eastern approach to Singapore, which is still in use today. The reservoir, which was completed in 1868 and named after him, has been called MacRitchie reservoir since 1922 . The life in the tropical climate on the exposed lighthouse island made him ill, so that he returned to England in 1853.

Europe

In England he studied modern engineering and traveled around the UK and Europe to study civil engineering. After recovering, he was advised to stay in temperate climates; so he chose New Zealand as his new home.

New Zealand

In early 1856 he arrived on the Ashmore in Auckland , in May 1857 he reached Otago. He had originally planned to work as a surveyor in his profession, but changed his mind and wanted to become a sheep farmer. However, the Canterbury Survey Office informed him that all eligible land was already taken. This assessment was based more on the complete ignorance of the interior.

Due to the reputation he had acquired in Singapore, however, the day before his planned return to England, Captain Cargill offered him the post of Chief Surveyor for the province of Otago , which he held until 1873. The huge area of ​​the province was previously only mapped along the coast. In May 1856 he began his service in Dunedin .

His first main task was to find a suitable location for the planned city of Invercargill . In September 1856 he carried out the town planning on site, planning the main streets to be twice as wide as was customary at the time and reserving numerous land areas for public use.

In the short period of 1857 and the beginning of 1858, a first rough survey of large parts of the interior, especially the southern part of the South Island, was carried out. He used the triangulation method for his measurements instead of the less precise angle determination with the compass, which was often used at the time.

It reached the Aoraki / Mount Cook in the north and the Waiau River in the west . He followed the course of the Waitaki River to its source at Lake Pukaki , as well as explored the course of the Waiau River , Aparima River , Oreti River and Mataura River to their sources. He named the Lindis Pass when he crossed Lindisfarne Island in Northumbria. He climbed Mount Grandview and named Mount Aspiring and Mount Pisa here . He named Mount Earnslaw after his grandfather's farm , which in turn was the namesake of the ship TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu . Twizel River , Cardrona River and Mount St Bathans also go back to his name . A first map of the inland of Otago was published in 1860.

Many names in the region refer to Thomson's Northumbrian origins. It is said that there were conflicts between Thomson, who wanted to name the places with traditional Māori names, and the authorities, who refused, regarding the naming . Thomson then gave many places names related to Northumbria. They are often the Northumbrian dialect form of animal names. The Maniototo area around the town of Ranfurly has many names like Kyeburn, Gimmerburn, Hoggetburn and Wedderburn, so the area is jokingly called Thomson's Barnyard .

In 1858 he became Provincial Engineer of Otago and as such laid the first gravel road in Dunedin. In 1859 he laid the main road connecting the city to the north via Blueskin and south into the Taieri Plains . The Taieri Bridge is also one of his works.

In addition to mapping, he was also responsible for building Dunedin's main arterial roads. The bridges over the north and south arms of the Waianakarua River are still used today. He also oversaw the demolition of Bell Hill , which made the expansion of the urban area possible.

The Tuapeka gold discoveries in 1861 resulted in unexpected growth in the region. Therefore, the Gold Fields Surveys, entrusted with the surveying of gold fields, was subordinated to the Survey Department in 1867 . Thomson divided the gold discovery area into four districts with surveying offices in Lawrence , Queenstown , Clyde, and Hamiltons . In a report from 1869 he states that the triangulation method he used means that every claim in the area is precisely registered. The Otago Waste Lands Act 1872 separated the offices of Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands and Commissioner to the Waste Lands Board from those of Chief Surveyor . Thomson received the first two positions in personal union.

In 1869 he built an astronomical observatory in his house in order to determine the degree of longitude established as a reference for his measurements by observing the stars himself.

On the occasion of the Venus transit in 1874 (which can only be observed in the southern hemisphere) , he acted as a consultant for US and British research groups who had traveled to New Zealand to observe them. At the request of the New Zealand government, the British expedition leader examined the state of New Zealand land surveying. In 1875, Major HS Palmer published a damning report on the quality of surveying work in the New Zealand provinces. Thomson's triangulation system was the only one to receive praise.

On May 1, 1876, Thomson became the first Surveyor General of New Zealand in the newly created Survey Department on the occasion of the abolition of the New Zealand provinces . He moved to his new office in Wellington and in the following years introduced his surveying system nationwide and wrote a handbook for the surveyors. He resigned on October 31, 1879, and was succeeded by his deputy in Otago, James McKerrow.

Thomson traveled to England and gave a number of scientific lectures.

In 1879 he retired to Glastonbury near Invercargill and held the office of mayor for some time. A candidacy for the parliamentary seat of Mataura on the occasion of the parliamentary elections in 1881 was unsuccessful.

Author and academic work

He was a member of the New Zealand Institute , a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society , a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts , the Natural History Society of Newcastle-upon-Type , and one of the founders of the Otago Institute in 1869 and of the Southland Institute in 1880 . He published numerous scientific and surveying works, including articles on ethnology and astronomy. Thomson wrote six books, including Some glimpses into life in the Far East (1864) and Rambles with a philosopher (1867), in which he describes his life as a surveyor in Asia and New Zealand.

He also translated the autobiography of his Malay teacher Abd Allāh ibn 'Abd al-Kādir , Hakayit Abdulla (bin Abdulkadar), mūnshi from 1874 from Malay.

Due to his knowledge of Hindustani and Malay , he engaged in comparative linguistic research and developed a theory of the distribution of human races based on philological data.

Private life

Mount Earnslaw, painting by JT Turnbull.

Thompson was an avid landscape painter. He mostly painted with watercolors. His works are of less artistic value, but are of particular interest as evidence of early Singapore.

Thomson was a member of the Anglican Church .

On October 7, 1876, Thomson married Jane Williamson of Dunedin at Kaikoura Bank , daughter of one of the pioneers of the European settlement of New Zealand, with whom he had nine daughters. Through his wife he was connected to the Hall-Johnes family, to which the former Prime Minister William Hall-Jones belongs. After his retirement from office, the family moved back to Invercargill, the "Lennel" house that he designed himself. This house is now a listed building with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust . Thomson died in this house on October 16, 1884.

Singapore factories

Horsburgh Lighthouse, drawing by Thomson
  • Thomson's 1852 report on Singapore's water supply led to the construction of the Thomson Reservoir , now the MacRitchie Reservoir , in 1862 .
  • His mapping of the Singapore Strait made it possible to effectively combat pirates in Malay waters.
  • Exploring Keppel Harbor .
  • Lighthouses

Works in New Zealand

Honors

Thomson Road, Singapore

In Singapore, the Thomson area in the city center, numerous streets, the Thomson Medical Center and Thomson / Whitley Park bear his name.

His mausoleum and family grave and his house Lennel in Invercargill are registered as architectural monuments.

Works

  • Extracts from a journal: kept during the performance of a reconnaissance survey of the southern districts of the province of Otago, New Zealand , sn, 1858.
  • Sketch of the Province of Otago: A Lecture, Being One of the Series Delivered at Dunedin , W. Lambert "Otago Colonist" Office, 1858.
  • An Outline of the Principles and Details Connected with the Colonial Survey of the Province of Otago , Otago Witness, 1891.
  • William Thomas Locke Travers, Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell, Richard Taylor, Fraser (Capt.), Gilbert Mair, WD Campbell, Johann Friedrich Heinrich Wohlers, James West Stack, AC Baines, William Colenso, John Turnbull Thomson, Julius von Haast : The Māori , 1871.
  • An Exposition of Processes and Results of the Survey System of Otago , Henry Wise & Company, 1875.
  • Exploration and Travel in New Zealand , Royal Scottish Society of Arts, 1878.
  • On the Cleansing of Towns , 1879.
  • Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori , Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1871.
  • Rambles with a Philosopher, Or, Views at the Antipodes , Mills, Dick & Company, 1867. (Autobiography of his surveying work in New Zealand)

literature

  • Gloria Margaret Strathern: Thomson, John Turnbull . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 15, 2015]).
  • John Hall-Jones, Christopher Hooi: An early surveyor in Singapore: John Turnbull Thomson in Singapore, 1841-1853 . National Museum, Singapore 1979.
  • Old Colonists - Mr. John Turnbull . In: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand . Canterbury Provincial District - Volume III . Cyclopedia Company Ltd , Christchurch 1903 (English, online [accessed February 9, 2017]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Strathern: Thomson, John Turnbull . In: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . 1966.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u John Hall-Jones: Thomson, John Turnbull in: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography , online publication in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , Retrieved March 29, 2013 online
  3. ↑ a b c d Old Colonists - Mr. John Turnbull . In: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand . 1903, p.  869-870 .
  4. ^ Victor R. Savage, Brenda SAYeoh, Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names , Eastern Universities Press, 2003 ISBN 981-210-205-1
  5. ^ John Turnbull Thomson Mausoleum and Family Plot. Historic Place Category 2. In: New Zealand Heritage List / Rārangi Kōrero . Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga , June 23, 2011, accessed September 25, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Lennel. Historic Place Category 1. In: New Zealand Heritage List / Rārangi Kōrero . Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga , July 27, 1988, accessed September 25, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Thomson, John Turnbull
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Surveyor and engineer in Singapore and New Zealand
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Farm Glororum at Bamburgh , Northumberland, England
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1884
Place of death Invercargill