4 Mount Verdon Terrace | Cork. | September 17th, 1842
My dear Tyndall
I believed the Survey of Ireland is very nearly closed1 Mr Bloomfield Messrs Scally,2 Moor3 &c. &c. start for Liverpool to day, only Major Waters and Taylor4 remain My trace5 had been finished for some time and I commenced pricking it off6 on a very nice sheet well mounted on holland7 by Mr. Bloomfield but alas! I was too long in pricking it off and after all our trouble and after pencilling in a good part of it I found out that it had been shifted8 and all was gone for nought – however I got another sheet which Mr Bloomfield very kindly mounted for me and he and I set to work and pricked it off in half a day and I am now busy pencilling it in – I must now beg your pardon for being so very prosy in my account of my misfortune and taking up your time reading such stuff – However here goes to tell you something that may interest you more, I am trying to get appointed to the English Survey I intend remaining about a year on it to learn mapping &c. I dare say there will be some difficulty in getting an appointment as all the men who were on the Irish survey have not yet been employed upon the English but if I cannot get a regular appointment I must only offer myself as a volunteer which they cannot refuse to allow me – and which will suit me nearly as well I sincerely hope that I may get to wherever you are do not mention what I have told you to anyone If Major Waters were appointed to superintendance of London9 there would be no difficulty as he could appoint me himself at once. If ever my dear Tyndall I can be of any use to you in any way you have only to send me word and I shall only be too happy to serve you in any way I can. If ever you require any interest either with the Heads of the Ordnance department10 or in any other quarter where my friends may have any power I shall be glad to be able to make any return for your attention to me in Cork I hope you will soon let me hear from you and with best kindness and remembrance to Mr Latimer (though he is a methody)11 believe me
sincerely and faithfully yours | J.B. Edgeworth
RI MS JT 1/11/3559
LT Transcript Only
the Survey of Ireland is very nearly closed: In fact the Survey would not be formally concluded until 1847, after Parliament had appointed a select committee in August 1846 to assess the work that was still necessary for its completion. However, most of the surveying work in the Districts was completed by autumn 1842, with survey personnel only remaining in Dublin, Kilkenny and Wexford.
Scally: see letter 0143, n. 14.
Moor: see letter 0163, n. 4.
Taylor: probably Edward Taylor, a civil assistant who worked in the District Office of the C District of the Irish Survey, in Cork, where Major Marcus Antonius Waters was based. He joined the Survey in May 1837, and seems to have left it by January 1843 (NAI OS/1/17).
trace: a tracing sheet that allows topographic details to be transferred from one map to another.
pricking it off: using a fine needle to transfer plotting points from an original map to a new one underneath it, often via a tracing sheet.
holland: laid paper with a smooth and a rough side.
shifted: where the original and new maps have not been placed exactly together, so that the details traced from one to the other do not appear in the same places.
If Major Waters were appointed to superintendance of London: see letter 0154, n. 3.
Ordnance department: presumably the head office of the Survey of Ireland at Mountjoy House, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Methody: Methodist (OED).
Please cite as “Tyndall0168,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0168