History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2) From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers (part 3 of 4)
Sergeant Joseph Longland served about seventeen years in the corps, was proficient in the field duties of the survey, and bore the character of being a fine draughtsman. Coupled with his charge of the drawing and tracing at Mountjoy, he superintended the revision of the engravings for Ireland. For several years he took the meteorological observations, directed the reduction of them for publication, and not only proved himself to be an excellent and careful observer, but introduced improvements in the meteorological registry. At Southampton, under the executive, he superintended, with singular efficiency and correctness, the staff of draughtsmen, civil and military, employed at the Ordnance map office. The vast range of his information, his habit of close reflection and studious application, rendered him a trustworthy and successful assistant. Thrice he has appeared before the public as a poet. His works bear the titles of ‘Othello Doomed,’ ‘Bernard Alvers,’ and ‘Trephely.’ The two first are richly imaginative, displaying a versatility of style, an originality and wildness of idea and incident, a gracefulness and sublimity of diction, that bid fair, as he expands in experience and familiarizes himself with the compass of his powers, to give him a high stand among the poets. His last production, however, does not come up to the expectations of his admirers. It is too vague, eccentric, and improbable to meet with favour. Undoubted evidence it bears of spirit, thought, care, and ambition, but it lacks the charm—the merit of his earlier works. In 1855 he received a commission as Quartermaster in one of the foreign legions, but the labours to which he was subjected in the organization of a new corps with whose language he was utterly unacquainted, not suiting the bias of his mind for close sedentary occupation, induced him to resign. The step was accompanied with pecuniary inconveniences. Fairly thrown on the world, with good talents and proper ambition to start with, there is little doubt but that his energy of character will introduce him to employment which will make up for the honourable position he felt it expedient to sacrifice.
Sergeant Donald Geddes possessed varied ability both as a surveyor and a mechanic. He was also a clear-headed and suggestive clerk of works, and not without pretensions as an architectural draughtsman. When discharged in the summer of 1853, he was in subordinate charge of the electrotype apparatus and copper-plate printers at the Ordnance map office at Southampton, under Captain W. D. Gosset, R.E., in which, through his assiduity and intelligence, the process of producing the copper for engraving was carried out very successfully. In attending to this duty his attention had been much engaged in scientific investigations and chemical experiments, and his diligent application made him intimately acquainted with the sciences of galvanism and electricity. Frequently on these subjects he lectured at the Polytechnic Institution at Southampton to large audiences, and his addresses were invariably reported in their entire length in the local papers. In January, 1852, he was honoured by a request to open the session of the institution with a lecture. This sergeant Geddes complied with. His subject was “The Advantages of Scientific Knowledge,” and it was received by a crowded assembly with enthusiasm. “The eloquence, ease of illustration, and fine talent of the lecturer, were surprising, and professors with a stream of initial titles to their names could not more have instructed and delighted their audiences at the royal and other metropolitan institutions than did sergeant Geddes.”[228] An incident occurred on this occasion which, from its remarkable character and effects, should not be omitted. The lecturer in alluding to the electric-telegraph, drew attention to the fact that friendly salutes had, by its agency, been fired between the coasts of England and France. “Let us only imagine,” he continued, “that this wire were carried across the channel and attached to the cannons of Paris or Madrid; let us wish to salute them on some great occasion, and by the simple touch of our wires it is done!” Here the lecturer united his wires, and lo! three pieces of artillery were fired in the adjacent grounds, to the great astonishment of the audience; but though the experiment was successful, it was attended by one of those striking accidents which, instead of damping the interest of the assembly, assisted to increase its zest and to prolong its hearty applause. The distance that the guns were likely to be out of the road of doing harm was not accurately ascertained, and when the explosion took place the crash that ensued embraced the destruction of more than 100 panes of glass in the Polytechnic building! At the invitation of Mr. Andrews, the Mayor of Southampton, he afterwards delivered a lecture at St. John’s House, Winchester, on voltaic and magnetic electricity. “The lecture, so interesting and yet so practical in its illustrations, accompanied by experiments so brilliant and successful, was listened to with the most earnest and intelligent attention.”[229] Mr. Andrews and Miss Smith—the heroine of the ‘Amazon’—were present; and sergeant Geddes, during his sojourn at Winchester, was the honoured guest of the mayor, and favoured with the amiable and intelligent company of the accomplished lady. In March, 1855, he delivered perhaps his best lecture at Southampton in the Polytechnic Institution, on the “Monumental Remains of Egypt, Assyria, and Greece.” It was illustrated by drawings and photographs of striking subjects—gleaned chiefly from Layard’s remarkable discoveries. There was also a view of Attica, nine feet long, sketched by Mrs. Bracebridge, celebrated for her heroic devotion and gentleness to our sick troops in the hospitals on the Bosphorus. The hall was filled to inconvenience, and he was encouraged by the presence of many of the notabilities of the city. A respectable local paper spoke of the lecture as being comprehensive and “greatly enhanced in effect by his not having to refer to a single note throughout.” The journal further observed, that “the lecture was altogether one pleasing flow of words, strictly appropriate, forcible in a scientific point of view, and convincing, as in all other respects, to the inquisitive mind of an audience excited to the highest pitch of attention.”[230] On several occasions sergeant Geddes has contributed to the columns of the ‘Hampshire Advertiser’ original and popularly written articles on art and science. In the erection of the new gaol at Southampton, he held the office of clerk of the works; and he now fills, by the patronage of Colonel James, the superintendent of the survey, a similar appointment in connection with the building of fire-proof offices and stores at the Ordnance map office, for which a sum of 8,000_l._ has been voted by Parliament.
Sergeant-major James Steel.—From the first he had a taste for the investigation of abstruse questions of science and philosophy, and his strong mind and perseverance, his power of application and fulness of resource, have made him acquainted with a fund of knowledge and information not commonly possessed by men in his sphere of life. As a mathematician he holds a fair reputation for proficiency and accuracy, but it is chiefly with the work of the triangulation and astronomy he has most distinguished himself. His early service was passed on severe hill duty. Ben Auler and Creach Ben were his first mountain stations. There he experienced a round of the varied hardships and dangers peculiar to a trig camp.[231] Possessing a buoyant temper and a hardy constitution he for many years bore with happy composure all the stern trials and changes to which the service exposed him, and carried on his duties with unrelaxed ardour and success. At Creach Ben he learnt the use of the instrument, and succeeded Lieutenant Hamley, R.E., in its charge in 1841. He is the first non-commissioned officer of the corps who used one of the larger instruments. In prosecuting his new trust, his travels embraced all parts of the British Isles. Now he would have his station on the mountain top, now on some craggy peak, and anon staged on the tower of some majestic castle or cathedral. This again he would leave for service on some stormy coast, or to perch his observatory on the slender weather-worn spire of some quiet village or city church. At Norwich cathedral his observatory rested on a scaffolding 315 feet from the floor of the building—nearly the height of St. Paul’s, but without the advantage of a dome at the base, to diminish the apparent distance of the observer from the ground. Here he used to creep into the “nest” through a hole in its floor. Some of the men were weeks before they could reach the top, while it was the duty of sergeant Steel and others to ascend it, and carry on the work in the most tempestuous weather and in the darkest nights. The oscillations of the structure were frequently very violent, but the observer, cool and fearless, continued to complete his arcs and to record the movements of the stars. In one of the storms which broke over Norwich an architect paid the sergeant a visit, but the vibration of the “nest” appeared so alarming to him, that through his representation a peremptory order was given to abandon the station, by removing the instrument and scaffolding from the spire. At Beachy Head the sergeant spent a winter season, where he was exposed to cold the bitterest he had ever experienced. This was in March, 1845, and at midnight, when the temperature was 25° below freezing-point, he did not forsake his work, but continued to observe the elongations of the pole-star, protected only by the canvas sides of his frail observatory. In moving from place to place he acquired much skill and facility in the construction of scaffolding and stages, and some of these fabrics, from his own designs, have only perhaps been excelled by the interesting works of sergeant Beaton. Soon after this, sergeant Steel, instructed by his officers in the use of the transit and zenith sector instruments, was employed during periods of five years in carrying on a series of astronomical observations with Airy’s zenith sector for the determination of the latitude of various trigonometrical stations used in the Ordnance survey of the British isles. Out of the twenty-six sector stations he visited seventeen, at fifteen of which he took the whole of the observations with the exception of a few at Balta, and about one-half at Southampton, which were made by corporal William Jenkins. The record of his observations, comprising about 700 quarto pages of closely-printed matter, attest both his industry under difficulties, and his talents. In this honourable service he displayed a quickness of perception, an accuracy in the manipulation of his instrument, and a skill and dexterity in the taking and registration of his observations, that place him in an enviable light even among scientific men. The most important work with which the name of sergeant Steel is popularly associated is the triangulation of London for the Sewers’ Commissioners. He it was who designed the beautiful scaffolding around and above the ball and cross of St. Paul’s, and who for four months carried on his duties from the observatory, cradled above the cross, with so much spirit and zeal, notwithstanding at times its alarming oscillations. In that period he made between 8,000 and 10,000 observations, and on the completion of the service superintended the removal of the scaffolding, which was found to be an operation even more difficult and hazardous than its erection. Another important work superintended by him, was the remeasurement of the base line on Salisbury Plain by means of the compensation-apparatus, which he conducted with his accustomed fidelity. In this delicate and peculiar duty his readiness of invention and perseverance enabled him to master, with complete success, the various obstacles he met with in its progress. So important a charge as this was never before intrusted to the responsibility of a non-commissioned officer, for heretofore the base lines were measured only by general officers of great scientific merit and experience. That on Salisbury Plain was executed by General Mudge in 1794, and its remeasurement was, in its operation and results, fully equal, in point of skill and correctness of execution, to any of its predecessors. Subsequently he took a leading part in the survey of the Queen’s estate at the Isle of Wight, for which Prince Albert presented him with a cheque for ten pounds “as a mark of His Royal Highness’s approval of his attention and care in making the survey of Osborne.” On the 14th August, 1855, after a stay of ten days on the summit of his old acquaintance Ben Lomond, he arrived at Arthur’s Seat, where the zenith sector was awaiting him. No time was to be lost in working it, as a measure of the local attraction of the mountain—to be supported by about 850 determinations of latitudes and theodolite observations at three stations—was to be delivered for the consideration of the savans of the British Association, at their gathering on the 15th September. Quickly rearing his instrument, and obtaining the loan of a chronometer from the astronomer-royal of Scotland—Piazzi Smythe—he threw his whole energy into the operation, labouring with his untiring sappers for twelve, sixteen, and sometimes twenty hours a-day. Thus robbing nature of her wonted rest, he registered by the 13th, with his usual accuracy, the necessary number of observations, but the result by calculation did not turn out as was expected. An additional spur was thus given to scientific inquiry, experiments were renewed and investigations made, which ended in establishing, to some extent, the existence of a disturbing power in that romantic hill, besides its understood attraction, to influence the plumb-line. Of that other disturbing force the cause is still a mystery, but as Arthur’s Seat is in the vicinity of the Modern Athens, and is daily visited by professors and students of geology and other branches of natural philosophy, there is every chance of this strange phenomenon being sooner or later discovered and explained.[232] Of his services Colonel James thus wrote: “The observations were made by sergeant-major Steel, during the months of September and October last; 220 double observations of stars were taken at each station, and the results have justified my confidence in him as an observer.”[233] Sergeant Steel’s services and attainments have always been of the highest class for usefulness and integrity, and his attention to the public economy was marked by a penetrative species of calculation, which made him more than a match for such contractors as it was occasionally his duty to engage. Under the years 1848, 1849, and 1850, the valuable services of this non-commissioned officer are more particularly alluded to in connection with the special services upon which he was then employed. It is only a poor act of justice here to mention that in this instance, as in all others in which non-commissioned officers and men have signalised themselves, the corps is deeply indebted to the Royal Engineers for information, direction, opportunity, patient instruction, and an interest in the development of individual character and talent; so that, for nearly a quarter of a century, the officers have assigned to them the performance of many important services, which from the accuracy and integrity of their accomplishment have greatly enhanced the corps in the confidence of their officers and in public esteem. Sergeant—now sergeant-major—Steel is the chief non-commissioned officer of the corps on the survey, and is stationed at Southampton, where, under Captain Clarke, he is superintending the calculations for the publication of the principal and secondary triangulation of the United Kingdom.
Colour-sergeant William Campbell.—Joined the corps in 1829, and early distinguished himself by his attainments. This led to his selection, when quite a junior non-commissioned officer, to give instruction to the inspectors of national schools in Ireland in surveying and levelling. These gentlemen were appointed to watch over the schools in the twenty-five educational districts into which Ireland was divided, to carry out the spirit and intentions of Lord Stanley’s plan for Irish education. Sergeant Campbell spent two months in training the superintendents, during which time he was brought into contact with noblemen and distinguished personages, all of whom uniformly treated him with marked courtesy. On completing the service he was rewarded in 1838 by the Commissioners of Education, of whom the Duke of Leinster was the chief, with a handsome case of drawing-instruments. His pupils also, in testimony of their esteem for his attention and ability, presented him with a purse of ten sovereigns, accompanied by a flattering address. When removed to the survey of England, his experience and the wide range of his information qualifying him for more extended usefulness, he was appointed, under the executive officer at Southampton, to fill the second subordinate post of importance on the duty. There he had charge of the correspondence, accounts and returns of all parties employed in the principal triangulation, and was responsible for all the money received for their payment, which at the time amounted to about 6,000_l._ a-year. He was also in charge of the calculation and preparation of the initial spirit-levelling, showing the relative altitude of land, which forms the basis of the whole of the contouring and vertical survey of Great Britain and Ireland. The importance of this duty, and the fidelity with which it was executed, gave him a high stand in the estimation of his officers for intelligence and resource. The special survey and mapping of Southampton for sanitary purposes was completed under his superintendence, with Captain Yolland as director. Under that officer he had charge of the construction and preparation of the Block-plan of London for the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers, comprising 847 sheets on the 5-feet scale, and also a plan on the 12-inch scale, containing 44 sheets, which was subsequently engraved at the Ordnance map office for the commissioners. By Captain Beatty he was intrusted with a like superintendence of the 10 and 12-feet plans of seventeen other towns, surveyed for local boards of health by parties under the direction of the captain. In conducting the survey of Southampton, he became popular with the citizens, and was commended by the corporation. By some of the municipal authorities he was called upon to suggest the best means of supplying the town of Southampton with water. With the sanction of his commanding officer he made a minute examination of the sources from which the town could be provided, and furnished his opinion in a lucid and spirited report on the propriety of selecting the Otterbourne Spring.[234] Twice sergeant Campbell was examined on his project by a committee of the House of Commons; but the bill was eventually lost, not from his being unable to afford proof of its practicability and preference of selection to other springs, but from want of zeal and unanimity on the part of the corporation to prosecute the scheme. When the Society of Associated Engineers was formed, several condemnatory letters and articles appeared in various public journals prejudicial to the Ordnance system of employing officers of engineers and soldiers of the royal sappers and miners to execute the government surveys; and the ‘Builder’ was indefatigable in promulgating the statements. Sergeant Campbell undertook a defence of the Ordnance system; and fortified as he was by facts and accurate results, a thorough acquaintance with the effective working of the survey machinery, and a facility of expressing his views with force and clearness, his four well-known letters to the ‘Builder’ in 1849, tended in great measure to terminate the controversy, and to render the operations of the associated society innocuous to the corps. After serving on the national surveys for more than twenty-two years, and reaping its highest honours and rewards, he was discharged in July, 1852, on a pension of 1_s._ 11½_d._ a-day. On parting with him, Colonel Hall recorded his opinion of the very satisfactory manner in which sergeant Campbell had performed all the responsible and trustworthy duties so long confided to him, and the great value of his services to the survey, both as an able superintendent and a first-class assistant. His regimental pay and allowances were 7_s._ 3_d._ a-day, with quarters &c.; and since his retirement he has been awarded, through the influence of Colonel Hall, an annuity of 10_l._ a year, and a silver medal for “meritorious service” in the corps. From the ranks of the sappers he passed into comfortable employment in civil life. Out of a tiring number of candidates who offered themselves, with brilliant testimonials, for the office of cashier to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, he was selected to fill it, at a salary of 210_l._ a year; since which—such has been his probity and efficiency—his income has been increased to 300_l._ a year.
Quartermaster William Young.—This rank was conferred upon Mr. Young in April, 1853, as a reward for his talents and pre-eminently useful services. He joined the corps from the Hibernian school in July, 1825, and soon, by study and application, became a well-informed mathematician. In 1830 Captain Henderson confided to him the calculations of the secondary and minor triangulation and trigonometrical altitudes of one of the districts in Ireland, in which, from his quickness, mental vigour, and extraordinary power of memory with reference to the logarithms of numbers, and the results of various calculations, his services were found, even at this early period, to be exceedingly advantageous. Promotion, however, being slow, it was not until 1838 he became a full non-commissioned officer; and soon afterwards, he succeeded a civil gentleman of experience and ability in conducting, under the direction of his officers, the computing department for the survey of Ireland. In that country his duties were always onerous and responsible; and the care, rapidity, and correctness with which they were executed, marked him out for higher employment in England. At Southampton he was intrusted with duties never before performed by a non-commissioned officer. Next to his officers he held the most important post on the survey, and fulfilled its requirements with no common ardour, integrity, and accuracy. For fifteen years he superintended a large force of computers and others, employed in carrying out the various calculations for the principal, secondary, and minor triangulation, the preparation of diagrams, the calculations of latitudes, longitudes, and meridional bearings, also the computation of distances and positions for the hydrographical office to enable the Admiralty to project the nautical surveys of the coast of the United Kingdom. With these scientific duties was connected the computation of trigonometrical and meridional and parallel distances for the surveys and large plans of towns. In 1844, when the Admiralty sanctioned Mr. Airy’s project for the chronometrical measurement of an arc of parallel between Greenwich and Valentia Island, the professor was requested to alter his formulæ, to enable the calculations to be carried out more correctly. He accordingly supplied new formulæ, which being submitted to the most rigid tests, it was found that not only “none of the approximate processes given by the various writers on geodesy were sufficiently exact to reproduce the original assumed latitude, longitude, and bearing, on carrying the calculations to the point at which they commenced,” but that those of the royal astronomer’s also failed to accomplish the object, “until it was found that the normal, or radius of curvature perpendicular to the meridian for the latitude of the given station, must be used in that of the determination of the second station, and the normal for the latitude of the second in the determination of that of the third, and so on, instead of using any approximate radius.” This was ascertained by sergeant-major Young, “after repeated attempts had been made, without success, to alter or modify the various approximate processes which had been tried, so as to cause them to reproduce the assumed data, on continuing the computations to the original point; and it was then also discovered by him, that in addition to obtaining accurate results, the calculations might be materially abridged by using the normal, as it then became unnecessary to convert the difference of longitude on the assumed or fictitious sphere used in the calculations, to the corresponding difference on the spheroid.”[235] The reversal of the steps of these improved formulæ also gave the means of finding accurately, when the latitudes and longitudes of any two points are known, the distances between them and their reciprocal bearings.[236] In publishing the work called ‘Lough Foyle Base,’ Captain Yolland acknowledged the services rendered in its progress by sergeant-major Young, “in charge of the computing branch” at Southampton, “for various improvements in the calculations, and for the rigid manner in which they were performed.” It was moreover added, that to his “quickness, accuracy, and skill in mathematical calculations, the survey is much indebted.”[237] He also afforded material aid, being Captain Yolland’s principal assistant, in the reduction and preparation for publication, of the astronomical observations with the zenith sector for the determination of the latitudes of twenty-six different trigonometrical stations used in the Ordnance Survey. The published work comprises 1,009 quarto pages of closely printed tabulated matter, displaying an array of results that must have cost both chief and assistant a great sacrifice of mental energy and unwearied application to make the necessary calculations and deductions. For some years Mr. Young superintended, under an officer of engineers, the compilation and calculations for the publication of the grand triangulation of the United Kingdom, and the arcs of the meridian connected with it. In addition to these scientific duties, he had charge of an official correspondence, and the management of large public accounts, the magnitude of which may be judged by the fact that in four years alone more than 100,000_l._ passed through his hands—50,000_l._ at least in personal payments, and the remainder in issues through him, to other persons rendering their accounts to him for examination. This brief abstract affords sufficient evidence of the extent and responsibility of his duties, which, Colonel Hall reported, “could only have been performed, in the highly-efficient manner in which they had been, by the possession on his part of great mathematical knowledge and aptitude for applied sciences.” In some respects to compensate him for his services, he had, when a non-commissioned officer, been awarded the highest military rewards and allowances that the regulations permitted: viz., 4_s._ a day and an annuity of 10_l._ a year and a silver medal. These, with his sergeant-major’s pay, made his annual allowances reach about 170_l._ a year, exclusive of his regimental advantages of excellent quarters, fuel, and clothing. Even this, the ultimate stretch of military reward, was wholly incommensurate with his acquirements and deserts; and to retain his services in the department, it became necessary that a special course should be taken to better his station in the corps. This was successful; and by the cordial and generous advocacy of Sir John Burgoyne, a commission was obtained for him to the rank of Quartermaster, by which he is placed, in a pecuniary view, in a position above the chief civil gentlemen on the survey, and on a par nearly with the lieutenants of engineers employed on it. Throughout his career, it is not a little curious to add, that he was the first non-commissioned officer on all occasions selected to receive the advantage of all the additional honours and rewards conferred on the survey companies, for he was the first who received the 4_s._ a day survey pay, the first appointed sergeant-major, the first medallist, the first annuitant, and the first quartermaster.
Of the general merits and services of the survey companies, both General Colby and Colonel Hall, R.E., have spoken in high terms. In September, 1846, the former officer, who for twenty-two years had commanded them, called attention to their peculiar habits of order, intelligence, integrity, and zeal for the public service. Had it not been for these qualifications, the great reduction in the number of officers from forty-five to nine must have been ruinous to the survey. “In fact,” adds the General, “the royal sappers and miners on the survey are intrusted with the charge of difficult and important works without the advantage which other soldiers have, of being under the control of officers who have ample time to direct them in all cases requiring knowledge and consideration.” Colonel Hall’s testimony is an echo of the General’s matured opinion. He speaks of the non-commissioned officers particularly, as being men of very superior attainments, and highly valuable to the Ordnance Survey, and that when discharged, they constantly receive employments in situations of considerable trust and importance at high salaries, which they fill with credit and success. In August, 1854, Colonel Hall ceased his connection with the survey, and was succeeded by Major, now Lieutenant-Colonel James, R.E. In his parting address he warmly eulogized, in general terms, both civil and military, for the services they had rendered to the national survey, and alluded with modest pride to a few of the advantages he had obtained for those who had so faithfully served under him. “For the military,” he wrote, “I have had the pleasure of procuring three important appointments: viz., a quartermaster with a high rate of working pay in addition to his regimental pay; a permanent sergeant-major, and a permanent quartermaster sergeant. These are prizes two years ago unknown in the survey companies; which, whilst tending to raise the tone of the sappers generally, should act as inducements to young men to strive to distinguish themselves for early promotion, and for meriting further indulgences.”
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Footnote 213:
‘Aide Memoire,’ iii., p. 612.
Footnote 214:
Ibid., p. 613.
Footnote 215:
‘Aide Memoire,’ iii., p. 613.
Footnote 216:
Ibid., iii., p. 613.
Footnote 217:
Appendix H. p. 1055.
Footnote 218:
The above detail is the last official statement published.
Footnote 219:
Vol. iii., p. 614.
Footnote 220:
Private James Weir was perhaps the most daring sapper in building stages for the observatories. Like the chamois he could climb heights almost inaccessible, and stand or sit at work on ledges, copings, pinnacles, vanes, and pieces of timber, where scarcely any human being would dare to venture without all the accessories and appliances which precaution could command for insuring safety and preventing alarm. At Ely minster, the tower of which is about 200 feet high, and at Norwich cathedral, the spire of which is the most elevated in England, being 327 feet from the ground, he was as agile and self-possessed as in an ordinary workshop. At Norwich spire, a brace broke under him, and he fell a distance of nine feet, but in his descent he caught hold of another brace, and thus saved his life. The accident did not in the least daunt him, for the next moment he was at work again, as cool and as brisk as ever. At Keysoe, in Bedfordshire, the builder who contracted to take down a portion of the spire was about to relinquish his engagement as hopeless, but our adventurous scaffold-builder was lent for the occasion, and the removal was soon accomplished. Weir took up his ladders and fixed them, but before placing the last one, he climbed the spire, unaided by scaffolding or supports, and, to crown his success, took off the vane, and brought it down with him. He achieved a still bolder feat at Swaffham in Norfolk. Upon a projecting joist which he had fixed, the dimensions of which were four inches wide by twelve feet long, he walked steadily forward to its end, at a height of about 120 feet, and with astounding coolness and dexterity performed his hazardous duty. At Thaxted, in Essex, he climbed the outside of the spire by the crockets, and at the giddy altitude of about 210 feet from the ground, sat upon the creaking vane, and whirled himself round upon its grating pivot. This was on the 11th April, 1844. A drawing of the scaffold and stage was given in the ‘Illustrated London News’ of that date. At Danbury, in July, 1844, his services were very distinguished. To take the initiative or first step in any one of these perilous services was always the most important task; but however difficult or dangerous it promised to be, Weir never shrank from its performance. Climbing the inside of the steeple, he reached its topmost sounding aperture, in which he secured a piece of timber. This projected some feet beyond the spire. Upon the end of this joist he stood, and after hauling up a ladder, fixed it upon the projecting timber, and then ascended by the shaking ladder to the top of the spire. There he hauled up the block and tackle, made it fast to the steeple, and descended amid the cheers and wonder of the crowd who witnessed his fearful exploits. The services of this daring man were frequently alluded to with especial particularity by the provincial press, and alike insured the applause of his comrades and the approbation of his officers. He afterwards served on the exploration survey for a railway in North America. In May, 1848, he purchased his discharge, and set himself up in business in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His industry and mechanical ingenuity soon brought him success in his new line of life, and he received the appointment of superintendent to the Water Company in that town, which he fulfilled, at a salary with other emoluments, of about 200_l._ a-year. On receiving this appointment the company purchased his stock of goods from him for about 700_l._, and he bids fair, in a few years, to be a wealthy man.
Footnote 221:
‘Army and Ordnance Exp.,’ 1849, p. 503.
Footnote 222:
Colonel James, ‘On the figure, dimensions, and mean specific gravity of the Earth,’ read before the Royal Society, May 8, 1856.
Footnote 223:
‘Professional Papers, R.E.,’ N. S., iii., p. xxiii.
Footnote 224:
Sergeant Robert Meade is perhaps the most distinguished in this department of duty; for, combining the powers of a ready intellect and keen perception with unsparing assiduity and patience, he has succeeded in unravelling some extraordinary cases. Skelton in Cleveland, Yorkshire, in which had existed a dispute from time immemorial affecting the legal appropriation of nearly 2,000 acres of moor and enclosed lands, was decided, on his exposition, by the officer intrusted with the responsibility; and the boundary between the townships of Ryhill and Camerton, in the same county, was altogether unknown to the authorities of the respective townships till he obtained access to some old documents, which enabled him to mark out the ancient line of boundary. Indeed, it may here be added, that scarcely a single township is perambulated without the non-commissioned officer finding it necessary to rectify some error in the rating of lands and premises, or to draw up a report, detailing the circumstances of some feud between neighbouring parishes, respecting boundaries or parochial apportionments.
Footnote 225:
‘Army and Ordnance Exp.,’ 1849, App. H, p. 1056. This is the last official statement published. It was wished to afford a similar statement, to the latest cardinal date in these records, but the information could not be procured.
Footnote 226:
‘Aide Memoire, R.E.,’ iii., p. 613.
Footnote 227:
‘Companion to the British Almanac,’ 1849, p. 37.
Footnote 228:
‘Hampshire Advertiser,’ January 17, 1852.
Footnote 229:
‘Hampshire Chronicle,’ March 13, 1852.
Footnote 230:
‘Hampshire Advertiser,’ March 31, 1855.
Footnote 231:
See illustration of the encampment at Creach Ben, ‘Aide Memoire,’ iii., p. 614.
Footnote 232:
It would be a pity to overlook the notice of an incident which occurred in connection with this astronomical service. When Steel left Southampton it was arranged he should hut himself with Mr. Donelan—formerly of the sappers—till the latter had finished his azimuthal duties on Ben Lomond, and then post away to Arthur’s Seat with Donelan’s barometer, chronometer, camp and party. Meanwhile a change was decided on—Donelan remained on the mountain with his instruments and party, and Steel shot off to Edinburgh. He could not however proceed with the observations without a chronometer, and as time was pressing, he could not wait till one were conveyed to him from the map office. Calling upon the Astronomer Royal with a credential from Captain Kerr of the royal engineers, Steel solicited the loan of a chronometer to enable him at once to commence operations. Very few instruments had the professor which were not in actual use, and except a pocket chronometer he had no instrument measuring sidereal time such as Steel wanted. Strongly interested in a matter so important, the professor was determined, could Edinburgh prevent it, that the sergeant should not be delayed an instant; and accordingly he wrote to the principal opticians—Adie and Son—and to Mr. Bryson, the chief clockmaker, begging, “for the scientific credit of the city of Edinburgh,” that the sergeant should be temporarily furnished with the instruments he required. Whatever could be given was readily placed at the service of the military astronomer, but, it was not in the power of the Scotch metropolis—learned and scientific as are its sons—to supply a sidereal chronometer! To make the best amends for the absence of so indispensable an accessory, the obliging professor, although he daily used his own pocket chronometer, lent it to the sergeant for one week, by which time an efficient instrument had reached him from Southampton.
Footnote 233:
Colonel James, ‘On the deflection of the plumb-line at Arthur’s Seat,’ read before the Royal Society, February 21, 1856.
Footnote 234:
The full report is given in the ‘Hampshire Independent,’ December 8, 1849.
Footnote 235:
‘Lough Foyle Base,’ by Captain Yolland, R.E., pp. 147-149.
Footnote 236:
Ibid., p. 151.
Footnote 237:
‘Lough Foyle Base,’ Pref., viii.