William Lambton

William Lambton, FRS ( * ca 1756 in Crosby Grange in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England; † January 19, 1823 in Hinganghat, Wardha District, Maharashtra, India) was a British soldier, surveyor and geographer, who as the initiator and first director the Great Trigonometric survey of India was known.

Life

William Lambton was born 1756 in Grosby Grange at Northallerton in North Yorkshire, the son of a living in a humble farmer. He avoided all his life to provide information about its origin. His exact date of birth is not known, therefore, other sources give 1753 as his year of birth.

After primary school, he was awarded one of four scholarships for the Grammar School in Northallerton. From 1781 he served in the army. In 1794 he was promoted to lieutenant. Until about 1795 he was Head of barracks in Saint John (New Brunswick ), Canada. In another use, he came in 1796 to the Cape of Good Hope, then to Bengal in 1798 to Madras. During these years he learned through self-study mathematics, trigonometry and astronomy. Under Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later 1st Duke of Wellington he took in 1799 in the Fourth Mysore War at the siege of Seringapatam in part. He saved his unit by its ability to orient themselves by the stars. He then served on the Coromandel Coast in southeastern India, where he was at his suggestion the order to carry out a survey to connect the Coromandel coast with the Malabar Coast of southwestern India, and to measure a meridian arc. But it took until 1802 until the necessary instruments arrived in Madras. The establishment and measurement of baseline at Madras was not only Lambtons first activity under this contract, but also the basis of the in the following years, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India adjoining. In 1806 he was able to complete the triangulation on Bangalore to Mangalore on the west coast. Then he started in Bangalore with the measurement of the meridian arc, first south to Cape Comorin, the southern tip of India, then from Bangalore to the north. When his unit returned to England in 1812, Lambton remained as head of the surveying in India. Over the years, the work moved slowly northward until they left the area by the government in Madras and the government in Calcutta was assumed. George Everest was appointed in 1817 to his assistant and began the following year with his work. Colonel Lambton not live to see the completion of his great work. He died in 1823 at the age of nearly 67 years in the small town Hinganghat, had led him to his survey work.

Services

William Lambton lived with his Great Trigonometric Survey of the largest surveying projects from his time. These years of working, traveling with heavy equipment were (his theodolite weighed half a ton ) and correspondingly numerous escort in diverse, often malaria-infested areas, unwavering perseverance, patience and greatest accuracy is required. His measurements allowed for the first time an accurate classification of Indian cities and geographical points. Already in his first triangulation from Madras to Mangalore he determined a distance of about 360 miles over the 400 miles, of which one was previously assumed based on the available inaccurate maps. His measurements of the meridian arc contributed significantly to clarify the shape of the earth. Although you already knew the flattening of the earth at the poles, but the extent of this flattening at the time was the big question. Lambton laid the foundations for the Indian Surveying, which could be developed and expanded by his successor George Everest.

Honors

Lambton was a member of the Royal Society (FRS - Fellow of the Royal Society ) (9 January 1817), Member of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in the section of Astronomy (15 December 1817).