David Hiram Williams (1812–1848) was a Welsh geological surveyor who created the first maps credited to the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

. David H. Williams was born in

Llangyfelach Llangyfelach is a village and community located in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Llangyfelach is situated about 4 miles north of the centre of Swansea, just west of Morriston. It falls within the Llangyfelach ward. To ...

, Swansea, on 5 October 1812, the second son of David William and Hannah. His father had progressed from being a labourer to mineral surveying, and the help father and his son gave William Logan with mapping coal in the Swansea area was probably a large factor in

Henry de la Beche Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS (10 February 179613 April 1855) was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the ...

's decision in 1839 to make D.H.Williams his first employee for the Ordnance Geological Survey. D.H.Williams is acknowledged as sole or joint surveyor on numerous 1st edition geological maps and sections of England and Wales, from Pembrokeshire to Somerset, and Flintshire to Shropshire. At the end of 1845, Williams was engaged by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

as 'Surveyor of coal districts and superintendent of coal works, Bengal' (between

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

and

Benares Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges, Ganges river in North India, northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hinduism, Hindu world.* * * * The city ...

). In 1847 he introduced

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

to travelling in India. On 4 February 1848, Williams was appointed the "Geological Surveyor of the Geological Survey of India". He died of fever at Hazareebaugh on 15 November 1848. Williams published a map, plus horizontal and vertical sections, of the Damoodah coalfield in December 1847. Detailed reports of his work in India, with recommendations for introducing iron works, were published posthumously in London and then Calcutta.''A geological report on the Kymore Mountains, the Ramghur coal fields and on the manufacture of iron &c.'' Bengal Military Orphan Press, (1852)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, David Hiram 1812 births 1848 deaths Welsh geologists