Thomas Frederick Colby

Thomas Frederick Colby (1 September 1784 – 9 October 1852), a British major-general and director of the Ordnance Survey (OS), was born at St. Margaret's, Rochester, Kent, England, as a member of a South Wales family. Entering the Royal Engineers he overcame the loss of one hand in a shooting accident to begin in 1802 a lifelong connection with the Ordnance Survey. His most important work was the Survey of Ireland. He began planning this enormous enterprise in 1824 and directed it until 1846, in which year the final maps made by the survey were almost ready for issue. By that stage he had become a major-general and, according to the rules of the service, had to vacate his survey appointment and retire. He was the inventor of the "Colby Bar" (a compensation bar), an apparatus used in base-measurements.

A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and many other professional organisations, Colby was one of the leading geographers of his time. He died at New Brighton.

Colby House, the headquarters of the OS N. Ireland, is named in his honour.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Persondata
Name	Colby, Thomas Frederick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 September 1784
Place of birth
Date of death	9 October 1852
Place of death