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William Roy ( 1726 - July 1, 1790), was a British surveyor, military draughtsman and antiquary. In 1746, when an assistant in the office of Colonel Watson, deputy quartermastergeneral in North Britain, he began the survey of the mainland of Scotland, the results of which were embodied in what is known as the duke of Cumberland's map. In 1755 he obtained his commission in the 4th Kings Own Foot, and in 1759 gained his lieutenancy and went to serve in Germany in the Seven Years War. In 1765 he appears as deputy quartermaster-general to the forces, surveyor-general of coasts and engineer-director of military surveys in Great Britain; in 1767 he became F.R.S., in 1781 major-general, in 1783 director of Royal Engineers.

Besides his campaigns and observations in Germany, his visits to Ireland (1766) and to Gibraltar (1768) were important. In 1783-84 he conducted observations for determining the relative positions of the French and English royal observatories. His measurement of a base-line for that purpose on Hounslow Heath in 1784, the germ of all subsequent surveys of the United Kingdom, gained him in 1785 the Copley medal of the Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence and was founded in 1660. The Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1782, is also closely affiliated with it. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate S. Roy's measurements (not fully utilized till 1787, when the ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to and GreenwichThis page is about Greenwich in England. For other uses see Greenwich (disambiguation Greenwich (pronounced "Grennitch" or "Grinnitch") is a town, now part of the southeastern suburbs of London in the London postal district SE10, on the south bank of the observatories were properly connected) form the basis of the topographical survey of MiddlesexMiddlesex is the name of several places: England: Middlesex, a traditional county of England, The original use of this place name. Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex University Canada: Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada In the United States of America, SurreyThis is about Surrey, England. There are also articles about other uses of the name Surrey. Surrey is a county in southern England, one of the Home Counties'. It is divided into a number of districts Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Rei, KentThis article is about the English county of Kent. See also Kent (disambiguation). Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. The county town is Maidstone. Kent has land borders with East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London, and a defined boundary wi and SussexThis article refers to the county in England. traditional county. Sussex is a traditional county in southern England, divided for administrative purposes into the two counties of West Sussex and East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove. It correspond. He was finishing an account of this work for the Phil. Trans. when he died.

Roy's principal book-publication is the Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain (1793). See also notices of him and contributions from him in the records of the War Office and the Royal Engineers, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vols. lxvii., lxxv., lxxvii., lxxx., lxxxv., and in the Gentlemans Magazine, vols. lv., Ix. He is whimsically denounced by Jonathan Oldbuck of Monkbarns in Scotts Antiquary.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica. 1911 Britannica

Roy, William Roy, William

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