Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Collier Michell, KH (29 March 1793 in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

– 28 March 1851 in

Eltham, London Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elth ...

), later known as Charles Cornwallis Michell, was a British soldier, first surveyor-general in the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

, road engineer, architect, artist and naturalist.

Early life

He was son to Admiral

Sampson Michell Sampson Michell (1755–1809) was a British Royal Navy officer who became an admiral and commander of the Portuguese Navy. Life He was born in Truro in 1755 the son of Dr Thomas Michell MD (1726-1811) a "fox-hunting squire" in Cornwall, and ...

and his wife Anne Shears. His eldst brother was Admiral Frederick Thomas Michell. He was named after Admiral

George Collier Vice-Admiral Sir George Collier (11 May 1732 – 6 April 1795) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. As commander of the fourth-r ...

his father's commanding officer at the time. Born in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, and called Charles Cornwallis Michell later in his life because of the proximity to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

of his birthplace, Michell was educated at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

and commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1809. He headed a brigade at the battles of Vittoria and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, took part in

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

and was appointed teacher of military drawing at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst on 24 March 1824 and professor of military fortification at Woolwich on 25 December 1825 and promoted to the brevet rank of major shortly thereafter. He was fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Cape of Good Hope

Michell was appointed as surveyor-general at the Cape in 1828, (having probably heard of the post through his cousin

Rufane Donkin Lieutenant-General Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin (17721 May 1841), was a British Army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament. Background Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child of General Robert Donkin, ...

) at the same time holding the positions of superintendent of public works and civil engineer. For performing these functions, he received an annual salary of £800. The surveyor-general's duties included taking charge of the detailed surveys needed to produce a good map of the Colony, improving passes and roads and surveying the Colony's border accurately. He was an outstanding architect, designing various churches such as St. Paul's in

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...

and St. John's in Bathurst. He suggested improvements to

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the fl ...

Harbour and designed lighthouses at Mouille Point,

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; , "Cape of Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans according to the In ...

(supposedly modelled on the

Pharos of Alexandria The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC). It has been estimated to have been at least ...

) and Cape Recife. Charles Michell03

He acted as assistant quartermaster in the Sixth Frontier War in 1834. His most active area was in the planning and construction of roads, as well as their improvement, being responsible for the planning of Michell's Pass near Ceres – a vast improvement on the old Mostert's Hoek Pass – and the Houw Hoek Pass near

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

, both carried out by

Andrew Geddes Bain Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June 1797 – 20 October 1864), was a Cape Colony geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. Life history The only child of Alexander Bain and Jean Geddes, both of whom died when Bain was still a ...

, as well as

Sir Lowry's Pass Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Somerset West and the Elgin valley, on the main route between Cape Town and the G ...

and the Montagu Pass, the latter constructed over the Outeniqua Mountains by an Australian road-engineer Henry Fancourt White in 1843–47. Besides all his other skills, Michell was an accomplished water-colourist, particularly of landscapes. His illustrations appeared in ''Narrative of a voyage of observation among the colonies of Western Africa and of a campaign in Kaffirland'' (1837), written by his son-in-law, Capt. Sir

James Edward Alexander General Sir James Edward Alexander (16 October 1803 – 2 April 1885) was a Scottish traveller, writer and soldier in the British Army. Alexander was the driving force behind the placement of Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment. B ...

. He was granted a pension in 1848 and returned to England, where he died on 28 March 1851 at

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

Family

While Michell was posted in

, he married schoolgirl Anne D'Arragon on 10 October 1814, after eloping. She was the only daughter of a retired officer in the army of

King Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV), and Mari ...

of France and her parents disapproved of the marriage. Their first two children were born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Julia Anne in 1815 and Frederica Louisa in June 1817. The third, Lady Eveline Marie Alexander, was born in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

on 16 April 1821, and the last Anne in Cape Town on 28 October 1829.

*1755 Croft West (Admiral in the service of the Portuguese Navy) – 20 January 1809

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

x Ann Shears from Somerset # Frederick Thomas (later Admiral Sir Frederick Michell KCB) *8 April 1788

– January 1873

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...

# Louisa *27 October 1789 Exeter x 1809 Jacob Whitbread (29 January 1782 – 20 January 1809 ## Jacob William ## Charles Frederick ## Gordon # Anne Maria *14 September 1791 Exeter x 1815 Benjamin Wood # Charles *29 March 1793 Exeter – 28 March 1851

10 October 1814 Anne D'Arragon 1799 – 3 January 1853

## Julia Anne *1815

x Cape Town 4 September 1833 Joseph Hendy Smith *13 March 1798 Ireland ## Frederica Louisa *June 1817

x Cape Town 27 July 1833 John Kynaston Luard *6 January 1803 Essex ## Eveline Marie *16 April 1821

x Cape Town 25 October 1837

*16 October 1803 ## Anne *28 October 1829 Cape Town x 1853 Robert Courage (brewery family) – 9 children # Eliza *December 1794 Lisbon – died when a few months old # Emma Caroline *15 January 1802 Lisbon x Rev.

John Page Wood The Rev. Sir John Page Wood, 2nd Baronet (1796–1866) was an English cleric, magistrate and radical Whig, closely associated with the return in 1820 to the United Kingdom of Queen Caroline of Brunswick, and her private secretary at that period ...

(eldest son of Matthew Wood (Lord Mayor of London 1815–16) the brother of Benjamin Wood). They had 13 children, the most notable being ## Evelyn ##

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

Michell was a cousin of Sir Rufane Donkin, sometime governor of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

References

*''The Life and Work of Charles Michell'' – Gordon Richings (Fernwood Press 2006) *''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa'' Vol.7 (Nasou, Cape Town 1972) {{DEFAULTSORT:Michell, Charles Collier Engineers from Exeter Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars English civil engineers Architects from Exeter 19th-century English painters English male painters 1793 births 1851 deaths Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Cape Colony architects Cape Colony painters 19th-century English male artists Military personnel from Exeter