John Ainslie
{{Short description|Scottish surveyor and cartographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
file:John Ainslie in Castlegate in Jedburgh.jpg
John Ainslie (22 April 1745 – 29 February 1828){{cite web |title = John Ainslie |work = The Gazetteer for Scotland |url = http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst206.html |accessdate = 17 May 2011}} was a Scottish surveyor and cartographer.
Life
Ainslie was born in Jedburgh, the youngest son of John Ainslie, a druggist, Writer to the Signet and burgess of the burgh.{{cite ODNB|last=Adams|first=Ian|editor-first1=Elizabeth |editor-last1=Baigent |title=Ainslie, John (1745–1828), cartographer and land surveyor|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37098|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37098 |accessdate=5 February 2014}}{{cite web
|title=A Selection Of Famous Jedburgh People
|work=Jedburgh Official Website
|url=http://www.jedburgh.org.uk/content_people.htm
|accessdate=17 May 2011
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722153933/http://www.jedburgh.org.uk/content_people.htm
|archivedate=22 July 2011
}} He was educated at Jedburgh Grammar School.{{cite web
|title=Famous Sons and Daughters
|work=Jedburgh Grammar School
|url=http://jedburghgs.co.uk/SandDs.aspx
|accessdate=17 May 2011
|url-status=usurped
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627155003/http://jedburghgs.co.uk/SandDs.aspx
|archivedate=27 June 2011
}} He began his career as an apprentice to the "Geographer to King George III", engraver and publisher Thomas Jefferys and worked as a surveyor and engraver for the English County series of maps. After Jefferys' death he returned to Scotland where he surveyed Scottish counties, engraving and publishing the maps. His primary focus was on the coasts and islands of Scotland.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fife.50megs.com/scottish-cartographers.htm |title=Cartographers |access-date=2014-10-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141023053306/http://www.fife.50megs.com/scottish-cartographers.htm |archive-date=2014-10-23 |url-status=dead }} The quality of his maps challenged others to improve their mapping style making maps more clear and easy to read.[http://www.fife.50megs.com/scottish-cartographers.htm>]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
From 1787 to 1789 Ainslie worked on a new nine sheet map of Scotland publishing it in 1789.{{cite web|last=Ainslie|first=John|title=Scotland, drawn from a series of angles and astronomical observations...|url=http://maps.nls.uk/joins/807.html|publisher=J. & J. Ainslie & W Faden|accessdate=5 February 2014|location=Edinburgh|year=1789}}. The map was a landmark in the improvement of the outline of Scotland and for the first time showed the Great Glen as a straight line and Skye, Mull, and Islay shown with more accuracy than had previously been seen.
He worked as a surveyor on several civil engineering projects including the Forth and Clyde canal with Robert Whitworth, Charles Rennie on Saltcoats harbour and the Glasgow to Ardrossan canal.
John was also a book-seller, which helped him in writing and publishing works of his own.
He wrote the standard text for his profession, the "Comprehensive treatise on Land Surveying comprising the Theory and Practice of all its Branches".{{cite web|last=Ainslie|first=John|title=Comprehensive treatise on land surveying, comprising the theory and practice in all its branches; in which the use of the various instruments employed in surveying, levelling, &c. is clearly elucidated by practical examples ...|url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002008963|publisher=Printed for S. Doig & A. Stirling|accessdate=5 February 2014|location=Edinburgh|year=1812}}
On 27 October 1776 he married Christian, the daughter and heiress of Jedburgh merchant Thomas Caverhill. In Edinburgh in the 1780s they lived on Parliament Square on the Royal Mile.Williamson's Edinburgh Directory 1784
He died at 72 Nicolson StreetEdinburgh Post Office Directory 1827 in Edinburgh on the 29 February 1828 and is buried at Jedburgh Abbey.
Other sources suggest he was married to Mary Lookup and they had two children. No dates provided.{{cite web | url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/ainslie_john.htm | title=Ainslie, John }}
Maps
Many of [http://maps.nls.uk/mapmakers/ainslie.html Ainslie's maps] are in the collection of National Library of Scotland including:
- [http://maps.nls.uk/joins/695.html The county of Fife] published in 1775
- [http://maps.nls.uk/joins/807.html Scotland, drawn from a series of angles and astronomical observations...], in 9 sheets, published in 1789
- [http://maps.nls.uk/joins/442.html A plan of Jedburgh] published in 1780
- [http://maps.nls.uk/towns/detail.cfm?id=413 City of Edinburgh] published in 1780
- The Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith, 1804
- [http://maps.nls.uk/joins/649.html Ainslie's Map of the Southern Part of Scotland] published in 1821
References
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Category:People educated at Jedburgh Grammar School
Category:Scottish cartographers
Category:18th-century British cartographers