The memorial to J G Bartholomew, Dean Cemetery

John George Bartholomew (22 March 1860 – 14 April 1920) was a Scottish cartographer and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the Prince of Cartography". Bartholomew's longest lasting legacy is arguably naming the continent of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, which until his use of the term in 1890 had been largely ignored due to its lack of resources and harsh climate.

Biography

Bartholomew came from a celebrated line of map-makers. He was the son of Annie McGregor (d. 1872) and John Bartholomew Junior, and the grandson of the founder of John Bartholomew and Son Ltd. He was educated at the

Royal High School, Edinburgh The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Under his administration the family business became one of the top operations in its field. Bartholomew himself was not merely a specialist in production, but also a talented

and cartographer. It was he who introduced the use of coloured contour layer maps; he also anticipated the needs of late nineteenth and early 20th century travellers by publishing street maps of major cities, cycling maps, railway timetable maps, and road maps for automobiles. He collaborated with major scientific figures and travelers of the period on projects involving their studies. Bartholomew's ''Atlas of Meteorology'' and ''Atlas of Zoogeography'' were issues from a planned five-volume series that was never completed. Before he died he was able to plan out the first edition of the ''Times Survey Atlas of the World''; this and its succeeding editions represent the most successful atlas project of the twentieth century. John was a great friend of geographer and writer John Francon Williams. Correspondence between the two friends is held in the Bartholomew Archive at the National Library of Scotland. Williams also acted as a literary agent for Bartholomew in America, the UK and other territories in the world. In 1889, he married Janet MacDonald. He handed the reins of the business on to his son John (Ian) Bartholomew (1890-1962). A memorial to Bartholomew, sculpted by

Pilkington Jackson Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson RSA, FRBS, FRSA (11 October 1887 – 20 September 1973) was a British sculptor prominent in Scotland in the 20th Century. Throughout his career he worked closely with the architect Sir Robert Lorimer. He ...

, exists on the northern wall of the 20th century extension to Dean Cemetery in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. His wife Jennie, sons Hugh and

Ian Bartholomew Ian Bartholomew (born 23 August 1954) is a British actor and musician from Portsmouth, England who has worked widely in both theatre and television. In March 2018, Bartholomew joined the cast of ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street'', as Geoff ...

, and grandson John Christopher Bartholomew are buried at the monument. His daughter Margaret married Philip Francis Hamilton-Grierson, grandson of Sir Philip James Hamilton-Grierson. On the centenary of Bartholomew’s death (14 April 2020),

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

paid tribute to him, naming him the publisher who helped put ‘Edinburgh on the map’.

Chronology

*1860: born in Edinburgh on 22 March *1880: begins work for his father in the family's map-making business *1884: co-founder of the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

*1884-1920: honorary secretary, Royal Scottish Geographical Society *1887: elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh *1888: succeeds his father in the family business *1888: elected to the Royal Geographical Society *1892: secretary, Section E, British Association for the Advancement of Science *1895: publishes his ''Survey Atlas of Scotland'' *1899: publishes his ''Atlas of Meteorology'' *1903: publishes his ''Survey Atlas of England and Wales'' *1905: receives the Victoria Research Gold Medal from the Royal Geographical Society *1909-1912: council member, Royal Society of Edinburgh *1910: appointed Cartographer Royal by King George V *1911: publishes his ''Atlas of Zoogeography'' *1918: receives the Helen Carver medal from the Geographical Society of Chicago *1920: dies at Sintra, Portugal, on 14 April *1922: first edition of the ''Times Survey Atlas of the World'' posthumously published

References

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartholomew, John George Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Victoria Medal recipients Scottish businesspeople Scottish cartographers Scottish geographers Scientists from Edinburgh 1860 births 1920 deaths People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish people

Biography

Chronology

References

External links