Map of a Nation (60 page)
Authors: Rachel Hewitt
103
Turnpike Act
For a history of Britain’s turnpike roads, see Albert.
104
to inspect the present situation of the Highlanders
Wade, II, p. 268. For general
histories
of George Wade, see Baker; McCall, Colin; Pollard; and Salmond.
105
the number of men able to bear arms
Wade, II, p. 270.
106
the little regard they ever paid
Wade, II, p. 272.
107
caused an exact Survey
George Wade, ‘Reports of Maj.-Gen. George Wade to George I and George II on the Highlands of Scotland, the condition of the people, the measures taken for disarming, etc.’, BL, Kings MS 101, f. 17. My thanks to Carolyn Anderson for drawing my attention to this document.
108
Had you seen these roads
Pollard, p. 28; Le Fanu, p. 242.
109
It is probable that
Christian, p. 18; O’Dell, p. 58.
110
Thanks to a break-in
I am grateful to Jean Barr of the Carluke Parish Historical Society for showing me the documentation pertaining to the theft of a
miniature
of Roy, by Maria Cosway, in 1929.
111
Measure the roads from Inverness
William Roy, ‘Measurements of His Majesties Military Road from Dunkeld to Blair in Atholl, 1747’, Atholl Estates, NRAS 234, Bundle 683: Miscellaneous Legal Estate, Political, and other Papers with no apparent common factor,
c
.1696–1760.
112
Orders and Instructions
David Watson, ‘Orders and Instructions to be Observed by Col. Watson’s Assistants in Reconoitring [
sic
], Examining, Describing, Representing, and Reporting, any Country, District, or Particular Spot of Ground, they may at any time be ordered to Reconnoitre and Report’, NA, OS 3/5.
113
William Roy began the daunting task
Roy, ‘Measurements of His Majesties Military Road’, NRAS 234, Bundle 683; Arrowsmith, p. 7.
114
He measured the distance
My account of Roy’s surveying technique during the Military Survey is extrapolated from information in Arrowsmith, pp. 7–8; Christian, p. 19; David Dundas, ‘Memorandums respecting the map of Scotland Jan 12 1806 Given to Arrowsmith’, NAS, cited in Hodson, 2007, p. 10; Skelton, 1967b, p. 4; and Watson, ‘Orders and Instructions’, NA, OS 3/5.
115
theodolite
‘Theodolite’,
The Oxford English Dictionary
, 2nd edn, 1989,
116
a circle divided into 360 degrees
Digges, 1571.
117
John Ogilby
Ogilby, 1675.
118
Ideally, traverse surveys
Arrowsmith, p. 7.
119
to make this way
Johnson, 1984, p. 56.
120
In the early 1740s, the Perthshire hydrographer
Chalmers, II, p. 63; Sher.
121
as I was sitting in my hut
t
John Russell to William Skinner, BL, Add. MS 17499, ff. 41–2, 2 July 1747.
122
scandalous Scrawl and form
William Skinner to Mr Fern, BL, Add. MS 174500, f. 22, 14 April 1750.
123
the remote situation
Wade, cited in Baker and Baker, pp. 22–3.
124
had marched at least six miles
Johnson, 1984, p. 58.
125
to be particularly attentive
Watson, ‘Orders and Instructions’, NA, OS 3/5.
126
on Christmas Day 1748 his father died
John Roy, Testament, Lanark Commissary Court, CC14/5/17, 24 November 1750.
127
a scene the most wild and romantic
Roy, 1793, p. 59.
128
love much talking
William Roy to James Hope, NRAS, Hopetoun MSS, Bundle 590, 9 December 1765, cited in Hodson, 2007, p. 7.
129
a much truer notion may be formed
Roy, 1793, p. 59.
130
In 1748
Charles Bush to William Skinner, BL, Add. MS 17499, f. 72, 7 June 1748.
131
The Surveying Scheme has given me
David Watson to William Skinner, BL, Add. MS 17499, ff. 71–2, 7 June 1748.
132
having three more Assistants
Surveyor-General’s Notes, NA, WO 47/34, f. 179, 27 March 1750, and NA, WO 47/35, f. 233, 27 March 1750.
133
Woolwich had been designed
For accounts of the history of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, see Edney, 1994a, and Smyth, John.
134
the people of its Military Branch
First Charter of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, cited in ‘The Royal Military Academy 1741–1939’,
135
When Watson applied
Surveyor-General’s Notes, NA, WO 47/34, f. 315, 19 June 1750.
136
Deputy Head Master
Surveyor-General’s Notes, NA, WO 47/34, f. 315, 19 June 1750.
137
Idle, Lunactic, and lost to Debauchery
Surveyor-General’s Notes, NA, WO 47/34, ff. 315, 317, 315, 19 June 1750.
138
Watson duly made his choice
Surveyor-General’s Notes, NA, WO 47/34, f. 179, 27 March 1750.
139
Thomas Howse, and … John Manson
Arrowsmith, p. 7; Chalmers, II, p. 62; Hodson, 2007, p. 10; O’Donoghue, Yolande, p. 1; Skelton, 1967a, p. 7; Skelton, 1967b, p. 3; Whittington and Gibson, p. 63. There is some debate about the spelling of Howse’s surname, and he often appears in Board of Ordnance
documentation
as ‘Howes’. For example, on 27 September 1749, William Roy and John Manson witnessed a legal document signed by him (Ordnance Quarter Books, NA, WO 54/498, p. 9, 27 September 1749).
140
additional Servants, Guides, Interpreters & otherwise
David Watson, ‘Accompt of money expended by Major-General David Watson upon account of a Survey made of Scotland’, NRAS 3246, Bundle 89: Account of Money Expended by Major-General David Watson, f. 1.
141
also sent a draughtsman
For accounts of Paul Sandby’s role in the Military Survey, see Bonehill and Daniels, pp. 13–5, 74–5, 82–103; Christian, pp. 18–22. For general accounts of Sandby’s career, see Ball; Bonehill and Daniels; Herrmann; Irwin; Sandby, 1892.
142
In 1749 Watson sent Sandby
Sandby was sent to work on the Military Survey alongside another draughtsman, called Charles Tarrant. See Charles Bush to William Skinner, BL, Add. MS 17500, f. 10, 8 March 1750; William Skinner to Board of Ordnance, BL, Add. MS 17500, f. 24, 3 May 1750; Board of Ordnance to William Skinner, BL, Add. MS 17500, f. 26, 5 May 1750. See also Christian, p. 19. Sandby’s map of Tiorim and Muydart is held in the National Map Library of Scotland, ‘Plan of Castle Tyrim in Muydart. Plan of Castle Duirt in the Island of Mull’, MS 1648 Z. 03/28e.
143
Displaying such an acute awareness
Sandby’s political cartoons can be found, among other places, in ‘13 Prints by P. Sandby satirising W. Hogarth’, Bodleian Library, Johnson b.221/1–13. Daniels offers an interpretation of the nationalist potential of Sandby’s art in Daniels, 2006, pp. 23–60.
144
He also helped found the Royal Academy of Art
See Hoock, 2003.
145
the father of English watercolour
Ball, p. xv.
146
in the field
Tabraham, p. 28.
147
David Watson paid regular visits
David Watson, ‘Accompt of money expended by Major-General David Watson upon account of a Survey made of Scotland’, NRAS 3246, Bundle 89: Account of Money Expended by
Major-General
David Watson, f. 1.
148
in the Governor’s House of Edinburgh Castle
Tabraham, pp. 27–9.
149
remote Corners of the Highlands
David Watson, ‘Accompt of money expended by Major-General David Watson upon account of a Survey made of Scotland’, NRAS 3246, Bundle 89: Account of Money Expended by Major-General David Watson, f. 1.
150
the really laborious part of the business
Robert Kearsley Dawson, cited in Portlock, p. 133.
151
it was our practice in walking
Robert Kearsley Dawson, cited in Portlock, pp. 146–7.
152
large and conical stones
Robert Kearsley Dawson, cited in Portlock, p. 136.
153
around sixty personnel
Hodson, 2007, p. 8.
154
Some of this money came from
David Watson appears to have spent a great deal of his own and his family’s money on the Military Survey. See Estate Account Book of Robert Dundas 1737–1782, NRAS 3246, Bundle 172, pp. 64–8, 110, 138, and NRAS 3246, Bundle 89: Account of Money Expended by Major-General David Watson. After Watson’s death, his brother John and Robert Dundas (3rd Lord President) successfully attempted to seek
remuneration
from the Board of Ordnance. See NRAS 3246, Bundle 89: Account of Money Expended by Major-General David Watson; NRAS 3246, Bundle 75: Papers relating mainly to the executry of Major-General David Watson of Muirhouse; and NA, T1/486, items 1–6.
155
a fifteen-year-old nephew called David Dundas
Omond, p. xxxii. William Roy’s close relations with the Dundas family of Arniston continued long after the Military Survey of Scotland. Letters in NRAS 3246, Bundle 120, describe how he helped Francis Dundas, the son of Robert Dundas (3rd Lord President) and his second wife Jean Grant, to prepare for a commission in the 1770s (William Roy to Robert Dundas [3rd Lord President], NRAS 3246, Bundle 120, 14 March 1777; and Francis Dundas to Robert Dundas, NRAS 3246, Bundle 120, 11 March 1777).
156
David Dundas would become Commander-in-Chief
Houlding.
157
mapping their fertile, elegant estate
David Dundas’s 1752 survey of Arniston is listed in NRAS 0077, under Plans. There is a photostat in NAS, RHP5246/2.
158
many others … whose superior taste
Fleming, pp. 5–6.
159
it has often been in my power
John Crawford to Robert Dundas (2nd Lord Arniston), NRAS 3246, Volume 35: Letter Book 1746–1755, f. 96A, 19 December 1752.
160
the social status of the Board of Ordnance’s employees
John Elphinstone was dis inherited from the aristocratic Elphinstone family (the Lords Balmerino) in the early 1740s, and was forced to gain military employment for financial sustenance. I am very grateful to Roderick Barron for fascinating discussions about Elphinstone.
161
the extraordinary Adam family of architects
See Gifford, especially pp. 76–107, 173–4; Fleming; and Mylne.
162
a man of distinguished genius
John Clerk of Eldin, cited in Fleming, p. 7.
163
a tumulus, where several urns
Sinclair, X, pp. 286–7.
164
pointed it out in his maps
Sinclair, X, pp. 286–7.
165
ordinary employments
Roy, 1793, p. i.
166
While the ranges of mountains
Roy, 1793, p. i.
167
to compare present things with past
Roy, 1793, p. i.
