Sir Thomas Hyde Page, FRS (1746–1821) was a British military engineer and cartographer for the British crown. In 1777 he married Susanna, widow of Edmund Bastard of Kitley, Devon, and sister of Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey, baronet. In 1783 he married Mary Albinia (d. 1794), daughter of John Woodward (formerly captain in the 70th regiment) of Ringwould, Kent, and they had five children. His third marriage, to Mary, widow of Captain Everett RN, was childless.

Early life

He was born in Over Whitacre, Warwickshire England and was the son of Robert Hyde Page (d. 1764), also a military engineer, and Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Morewood of Arley, Warwicks. Thomas Hyde Page attended 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 ...

, receiving a gold medal from

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

Career

In July 1769, Page was appointed as a practitioner engineer and second lieutenant in the

Corps of 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 ...

. Page was promoted sub-lieutenant and engineer in 1774. In 1775, Lord

George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (28 February 172414 September 1807), known as The Viscount Townshend from 1764 to 1787, was a Great Britain, ...

, master-general of the ordnance, asked Page 'to take a view of the

Bedford Level Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford on the ...

' to improve the general drainage in the county. His report to Lord Townshend, dated 31 March 1775, was deposited in the library of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

. He constructed a ferry in Chatham for which he won a gold medal from the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

in 1775. Page went with the corps of engineers to North America and distinguished himself in service to General Pigott at the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peri ...

on 17 June 1775, where he was severely wounded. As a result of this disability, he received a pension of 10 shillings per day. In England, for the next few years he was the commanding royal engineer of the eastern coastal district and supervised the refurbishment of defences at Dover, Chatham, Tilbury, Gravesend, Sheerness, and

Landguard Fort Landguard Fort is a fort at the mouth of the River Orwell outside Felixstowe, Suffolk, designed to guard the mouth of the river. It is now managed by the charity English Heritage and is open to the public. History Originally known as Langer ...

. In 1780, he organised the Dover Volunteers. In 1782 the Board of Ordnance commissioned him to bore a well at

Sheerness Sheerness () is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby ...

garrison. He tried a new technique and the experiment failed, resulting in his being blamed. In the House of Commons the experiment was said to be 'not a well for fresh water, but a sink for the money of the public'. Page made a second attempt in Fort Townshend at

which was successful. Page's report on making the Sheerness well is dated 12 May 1783 and plans and sections were published in the

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journ ...

, 74. In 1783, Page was a candidate for the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, supported by the mathematician

Charles Hutton Charles Hutton FRS FRSE LLD (14 August 1737 – 27 January 1823) was an English mathematician and surveyor. He was professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1773 to 1807. He is remembered for his calculation of th ...

and others. He was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

on 10 July 1783 being described as 'a gentleman well versed in mechanics and many other branches of experimental philosophy'. He was knighted on 23 August 1783. Page was promoted to captain-lieutenant in 1784 and made a captain on 20 April 1787, before being moved to the invalid engineers months later. His expertise was still in demand and was made the chief consulting engineer in the improvement of the port of Dublin, of

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

harbour, of the inland navigation of Ireland, and of the

Royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

, Shannon and

Newry canal The Newry Canal is an abandoned canal in Northern Ireland. Opened in 1742, it was built to link the Tyrone coalfields to the Irish Sea. The navigable route ran from Lough Neagh via the Upper Bann river to Portadown (approximated 9 miles), then ...

s. In 1792, he was the director for repairing the breach in the dock canal in Dublin. Page also worked on forming the new cut ("The Eau Brink Cut") and channel from Eau Brinck (Eau Brink) to

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

in Norfolk, England, and along the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

, a problem of navigation and drainage that had baffled engineers since the time of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

in the 17th century.

Later years

Page married, and had children. His eldest daughter Mary Albinia (d. 1835) married Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey, third baronet (1769–1847); his granddaughter Matilda Blanche Crawley-Boevey married businessman William Gibbs, both becoming religious philanthropists and supporters of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. Page lived for many years at

Betshanger Betteshanger () is a village and former civil parish. now in the parish of Northbourne, in the Dover district, in east Kent, UK, near Deal. It gave its name to the largest of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield. In 1931 the parish h ...

Park,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, but retired for reasons of health, abroad to France. He died in

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

, France on 30 June 1821, and was buried there.

Selected works

* Page, Thomas Hyde
"Considerations upon the state of Dover-harbour, with its relative consequence to the navy of Great Britain ... To which is prefixed, a letter, addressed to the Military Association for the defence of the town and harbour of Dover"
printed for the author, by Simmons and Kirkby, Canterbury : 1784 * Page, Thomas Hyde, "The reports or observations of Sir Thomas Hyde Page on the means of draining the south and middle levels of the Fens", Reprinted, ondon ?: 1794 * Page, Thomas Hyde; Mylne, Robert
''Correspondence Upon The Subject Of The Eau-Brink Cut, Between Sir Thomas Hyde Page And Mr. Mylne: In The Years 1801 And 1802
Lynn, England : Andrew Pigge, 1802

References

;Citations ;Sources * Rix, Herbert; Johnson, W. (revised)
"Thomas Hyde Page"
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. And in Wikisource, at "Thomas Hyde Page", pp. 43–44. * 'Notitia historica', 1860, Royal Engineers' Library, Chatham, Kent, Connolly MSS, 4.25–35, 40–48 · Burke, Gen. GB age of Holbrook· W. Y. Carman, 'Sir Thomas Hyde Page, engineer', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 33 (1955), 61–2 · R. F. Edwards, ed., Roll of officers of the corps of royal engineers from 1660 to 1898 (1898) · The Times (5 July 1821) * Archives: priv. coll., MSS , Inst. CE, archives · Royal Engineers' Library, Chatham, Kent, Connolly MSS, 'Notitia historica', 4.25–35, 40–48 · RS, book catalogue

External links

Works by Sir Thomas Hyde Page
stored in the National Library of Australia
Maps by Sir Thomas Hyde Page
– in the Library of Congress collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Thomas Hyde 1746 births 1821 deaths 18th-century English cartographers 19th-century British cartographers British civil engineers Engineers from London English expatriates in France Fellows of the Royal Society Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People from Marylebone