JOHN ARROWSMITH Biography - Pioneers, Explorers & inventors

 
 

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JOHN ARROWSMITH

John Arrowsmith (1780-1873) was an English geographer (mapmaker) and member of       
the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He was born at Winston, County Durham.         
                                                                                     
In 1810 he joined his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith in his mapmaking business in London.     
In 1821, they published a map of North America using a combination of a maps         
obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company and Aaron's own previous work. In 1834         
John published his London Atlas, which were the best set of such maps then in         
existence. He followed the atlas with a long series of elaborate and carefully       
executed maps, those of Australia, America, Africa and India being especially         
valuable. In 1863 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society,       
of which body he was one of the founders.                                             
                                                                                     
His maps were very numerous, and their neatness and finished style gained John a     
very extensive reputation; a reputation which has since not been sustained.           
Arrowsmith was also a most industrious collector of materials, but he was not         
equally judicious in using them and though, in various respects, useful and           
meritorious, his maps contain many great and important errors.                       
                                                                                     
Mount Arrowsmith, situated east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British         
Columbia, is named for John Arrowsmith and his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith.