|
ROY (MAJOR-GENERAL), WILLIAM,
a distinguished practical mathematician and antiquary, was born in Carluke
parish, May 4, 1726. John, the father, who was born April 15, 1697, at
Milton-head, must have been an active and intelligent man, if we may judge
from the many references made to him by the heritors of the parish. He is
variously designated as gardener, factor, &c., to Sir William Gordon, and to
Charles Hamilton Gordon, of Hallcraig. John, the grandfather, seems to have
been succeeded in office by his son John. The earliest notice of the elder
John Roy is in the "Roll of polleable persons in Carluke parish, 1695," and
the entry there is in these terms:—"Jo roy, servitor to my Lord hallcraig,
00 .19. 04." The general, and his brother James, afterwards minister of
Prestonpans, were educated partly at the school of their native parish, and
partly at the grammar-school of Lanark, the latter having been a bursar in
Glasgow college on the foundation of the countess of Forfar, from 1737 till
1751. A characteristic anecdote of Roy is still current. An old woman, a
native of Carluke, who had all her life been a servant at Lee, used to
relate with pride that, in her young days, Roy came to Lee as attendant on
great men; shortly afterwards he came again, but in a higher office; after
the lapse of years, he came a third time, and now he sat at the right hand
of the laird!
The birthplace of general Roy
is accidentally marked in a singular manner. The buildings of Milton-head
have long been cleared away. An old willow that grew near the end of the
steading, no longer able to bear the weight of its own arms, bent under the
burden, and now represents an arch of fair proportions. The tree in this
position continues to grow, and is itself an object of interest; but,
marking as it does the birthplace of an eminent man, it is doubly worthy of
notice and preservation.
No record has been discovered of the
early career of general Roy. He was first brought into notice in 1746, when
he was employed by government to make an actual survey of Scotland. This
arduous and difficult duty he performed in a meritorious manner, and gave
the world the result in what goes under the name of the "Duke of
Cumberland’s Map." Upon this map, which is a very large sheet, the sites of
all ascertainable Roman camps or stations were accurately and distinctly
laid down. It was afterwards reduced by the general to a smaller size, under
the title of "Mappa Britanniae Septentrionalis,"
&c.
The first geodesic survey
executed in England was undertaken with the immediate object of establishing
a trigonometrical connection between the observations of Paris and
Greenwich, in order to determine the difference of longitude. This was
executed by general Roy, who began his operations by measuring a base of
27,404 feet on Hounslow Heath, in the summer of 1784. Amongst the numerous
and valuable papers contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society by
general Roy, was an account of these operations, which obtained for him the
Copley medal. To this paper was appended an account of the mode proposed to
be followed in determining the relative situations of the Greenwich and
Paris observatories, which led to the author’s being employed by royal
command to ascertain this point by the method thus suggested, from actual
experiment. In obedience to his majesty’s mandate, the general completed an
exceedingly curious, accurate, and elaborate set of trigonometrical
experiments and observations, to determine the true and exact latitude and
longitude of the two observatories, illustrated by tables computed from
actual measurement; to enable him to accomplish which, he was furnished by
the king with several costly trigonometrical instruments. General Roy
presented an account of these interesting proceedings to the Royal Society,
and was employed in superintending its publication in the Society’s
Transactions, when he was seized with an illness which carried him off in
two hours. He died at his house, Argyle Street, London, July 1, 1790.
General Roy’s investigations laid the groundwork of the trigonometrical
survey of the three kingdoms, which is still in progress. In the History of
the Royal Society by Weld (1848), it is expressly stated that this survey
was commenced by general Roy in 1784. It was subsequently conducted, under
the direction of the master-general of the ordnance, by colonel Williams,
and captain, afterwards general Mudge, of the Royal Engineers, and Mr Dalby,
who had previously assisted general Roy. Three years after his death,
general Roy’s elaborate antiquarian work was published at the expense of the
Antiquarian Society of London, under the title of "Military Antiquities of
the Romans in Britain." General Roy was deputy quartermaster-general of his
majesty’s forces; surveyor of the coasts and batteries; colonel of the 30th
Regiment of Foot; F.R.S., &c. |
