Person Roy; William (1726 - 1790) Roy William 1726 - 1790 British Male Milton Head in Carluke parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland 04 May 1726 His house in Argyll Street, London 01 July 1790

Great Pult[e]ney Street, London (1767)

Career: Entered Army; Colonel (by 1767); Major General. After the Jacobite rebellion in 1746, the Duke of Cumberland is said to have observed that it would have been a lot easier with a decent map of the Highlands. Roy embarked on this ambitious task using a length of chain and a compass. It took him nine years but earned him promotion to Surveyor General for the coasts. He suggested a full national survey but the Government refused on graounds of cost. In 1748 he was commissioned by the Royal Society to work out the precise distance between the royal observatories of Greenwich and Paris for the benefit of world science. Important rules of navigation depended on it. And Roy did it using one of the first theodolites - a telescopic device which measures vertical and horizontal angles to account for the earth's curve - and the principles of trigonometry. Even King George III turned up to watch him. His calculations were accurate, the experiment a success and Roy, by then a General, renewed his calls for a national survey. He died one year before it was commissioned by the Board of Ordnance, and the Ordnance Survey was born. Medals and prizes: Copley Medal 1785 Fellow 26/03/1767 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB References: Sir Gavin de Beer and Max H Hey, 'The First Ascent of Mont Blanc' in NR 1954-55 vol 11 pp 236-255 R E W Maddison and Raymond E. Maddison, 'Spring Grove, the Country House of Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., PRS' in NR 1954-55 vol 11 pp 91-99 M Crosland, 'Relationships between the Royal Society and the Academie des Sciences in the late eighteenth century' in NR 2005 vol 59 pp 25-34 J Bennett, 'Plates from Royal Society Publications: Illustrating William Roy's Baseline on Hounslow Heath', in NR 2006 vol 60 pp 225-230 International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 4 May 1726 - 1 Jul 1790 NA6264 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 28/03/2023 RS_NET\JonathanB Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/76619080 7e65bed6-ac5b-492e-9a85-08c099ede7d1