French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)
Maps and prints of naval engagements collected by George III during the decade of war
Map of Swinley, 1800 (North Ascot, Berkshire, England, UK) 51°25'29"N 00°41'27"W
c.1800Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour on paper | Scale: 1:13,300. | RCIN 735083.3.a
The area covered by this map is to the south of the camp site represented in RCIN 735083.1.b, in the locality now known as South Ascot and Sunninghill. This plan will have been made from an original reconnaissance type survey which was taught at the Royal Military College by the French emigré officer, General François Jarry, and attended by Thomas Birch. Birch went on, as a member of the newly formed Staff Corps, to perform surveying and reconnoitering during the Peninsular War for which he was commended by Sir Robert Wilson (Le Marchant 1841, p.86). Birch was a close friend of the founder of the Royal Military College, Colonel Gaspard le Marchant, in whom George III took a personal interest.
This map shows one of the techniques, brought over from France and taught by Jarry, which was used extensively by the Staff Corps for representing the relative height of hills by numbers. Known as 'relative command', because it showed the commanding height of one hill relative to another, it was adopted by the Ordnance Survey from 1803 after it was introduced by one of the OS Surveying Draughtsmen, Robert Dawson, who also taught survey and plan drawing at High Wycombe. Relative command is combined here with the uncommon technique, in England at this time, of using horizontal hachures.
The encampments shown on this detailed topographical map were probably part of a training exercise for the students at the Royal Military College.
Condition: no fold lines; surface dirt along right edge. Verso: surface dirt along left edge.
? Thomas Birch (1771-1847) (draughtsman) [bottom left, below title, in title cartouche:] by T. Birch / Major 16th (or Queens) L Drags.
Subject(s)
Army-GBWatermark: None
Mark, stamped: 1093
Condition: no fold lines; surface dirt along right edge. Verso: surface dirt along left edge
Scale: 1:13,300. Scale bar: One Mile [121 mm =].
34.3 x 53.1 cm (neatline)
35.3 x 54.0 cm (image)
38.6 x 57.2 cm (sheet)
Printed title:
PLAN / of the COUNTRY in front of / SWINLEY INFANTRY CAMP / June 1800 [bottom left, in rectangular panel]
Annotations:
George III heading: Encampment at Swinley, June 1800.
Other annotations: (Recto) [top left, black pencil:] CMB Jan '87 [i.e. 1987]. (Verso) none.
George III catalogue entry:
Swinley A drawn Plan of the Country in front of Swinley Infantry Camp, June 1800: by Major T. Birch.
Subject(s)
North Ascot, Berkshire, England, UK (51°25'29"N 00°41'27"W)
Bibliographic reference(s)
Y. Jones, ‘Aspects of relief portrayal on 19th century British military maps’, The Cartographic Journal, June 1974, pp.1-15
The Royal Military Calendar or Army Service and Commission Book, Third Edition, London (1820), vol. III, p. 386.
D. Le Marchant, Memoirs of the late Major General Le Marchant, Staplehurst, 1841, reprinted 1997, p.86
Page revisions
25 May 2024
Current version
