William Lambton | |
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 Lambton in 1822, oil painting by William Havell in the Royal Asiatic Society | |
| Born | 1753 Crosby Grange |
| Died | January 1823 (aged 70) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, surveyor |
| Known for | Founding Superintendent of the Great Trigonometric Survey |
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Lieutenant-Colonel William Lambton FRS (c. 1753 – 20 or 26[1] January 1823[2]) was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer who began a triangulation survey in 1800-1802 that was later called the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. His initial survey was to measure the length of a degree of an arc of the meridian so as to establish the shape of the Earth and support a larger scale trigonometrical survey across the width of the peninsula of India between Madras and Mangalore. After triangulating across the peninsula, he continued surveys northwards for more than twenty years. He died during the course of the surveys in central India and is buried at Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra. He was succeeded by his assistant George Everest.
- ^ Baigent, Elizabeth. "Lambton, William (1753x69–1823)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15948. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Markham, Clements R. (1871). Memoir on the Indian Surveys. Trubner & Co. pp. 44–57.