John Mathieson (1855, Durness,

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

– 14 June 1945, Edinburgh) was a Scottish surveyor,

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

, explorer and Gaelic scholar. In 1909, Mathieson retired from his post as Division Superintendent of HM Ordnance Survey in order to serve as chief surveyor on the Scottish scientific expedition to

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, led by William Speirs Bruce. In 1920-21 he led the surveying party on Prins Karls Forland, largely completing Bruce's survey. On 7 March 1921 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

, upon the nomination of John Horne, John Flett,

Thomas Jehu Thomas John Jehu (19 February 1871 – 18 July 1943) was a British physician and geologist. The Jehu-Campbell Fossil Collection at the University of Edinburgh was donated by Jehu in combination with Robert Campbell and is now the main component ...

, Ben Peach, Robert Campbell and

Thomas Cuthbert Day Thomas Cuthbert Day FRSE EGS FCS (1852-1935) was a British chemist, photo-engraver and geologist. He was the joint founder of the firm Hislop & Day who made major advances in the reproduction of photographs in printed books. Day also independen ...

. In 1927 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the Murchison Grant by the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

Works

* *"General Wade and His Military Roads in the Highlands of Scotland", Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume 40, 1924 * * *"St Kilda",

Scottish Geographical Magazine Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, Volume 44, December 1928 * *"The Story of Antarctic Exploration 1716-1931", 1932 *"The Story of Arctic Voyages and Explorations", 1934 *"The Tragedy of the Scottish Highlands", Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume 54, 1938 * *"Scottish Ghost-names and other place names: Some of the Difficulties in ascertaining their Meaning", Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume 60, 1944 *

References

External links

Map of St Kilda
1855 births 1945 deaths 20th-century explorers People from Sutherland Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish geographers Scottish surveyors Scottish cartographers Scottish polar explorers Explorers of Svalbard 20th-century Scottish historians Historians of Scotland Toponymists {{UK-explorer-stub