John Frederick Anthony Symonds (10 December 1813 – 9 August 1852) was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
officer and surveyor who carried out the first detailed survey of Palestine, together with
Edward Aldrich
Colonel Edward Aldrich (30 December 1802 – 23 November 1857) was a British military engineer, architect and surveyor of the Corps of Royal Engineers who carried out the first detailed survey of Palestine together with John Symonds, RE.
Car ...
.
Symonds was born in 1813, the third of four sons of
Sir William Symonds
Sir William Symonds CB FRS (24 September 1782 – 30 March 1856, aboard the French steamship ''Nil'', Strait of Bonifacio, Sardinia)Surveyor of the Fleet, and his first wife, Elizabeth. His eldest brother was
William Cornwallis Symonds
Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1 August 1810 – 23 November 1841) was a British Army officer who was prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand.
Biography
Symonds was born at Lymington, Hampshire in 1810, the eldest son of W ...
. He was baptised along with his other brothers,
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
Fawley, Hampshire
Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of Fawley Refinery, operated by ExxonMobil, which is ...
. His elder brother
William Cornwallis Symonds
Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1 August 1810 – 23 November 1841) was a British Army officer who was prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand.
Biography
Symonds was born at Lymington, Hampshire in 1810, the eldest son of W ...
(1810–1841) became an army captain.
He joined the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
and was made 2nd Lieutenant in 1833, Lieutenant in 1836, 2nd Captain in 1845, Captain in 1850 and given the Army Rank of Major in 1846.
Following the intervention of the western powers in Syria and Palestine as a result of increasing tensions between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire Lieutenant Symonds was sent to the area in 1840. After surveying coastal forts he was sent to Jerusalem in early 1841, where he prepared an accurate map of the city. Later that year, at the age of only 26 or 27, he was ordered to carry out a complete trigonometrical survey of southern and central Palestine: the north would be surveyed by a different team. The survey was done by triangulation from the coast inland to the Dead Sea, using a 7-inch
theodolite
A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building and ...
. Symond's calculations for the height of the Dead Sea was 1312 feet below sea level, compared with today's accepted figure of 1299 feet below sea level. In spite of the arduous conditions and sickness which affected the whole team, the exercise was completed in 10 weeks.
In 1843 he was awarded the
Patron's Medal
The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...
of 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 ...
for "his triangulation over Palestine and for his determination of the difference between the level of the
Mediterranean and the Dead Sea".
He died at
Argostoli
Argostoli (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...
, on the Greek island of
Cephalonia
Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...
in 1852.''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995''