Introduction
The Ordnance Survey in Ireland was a military undertaking. Its officers were drawn from the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery, its soldiers from the Royal Sappers and Miners. They led the work, overseeing a civilian workforce. The Survey required skills far removed from those of conventional soldiering. Working in small detachments across Ireland, often with little supervision, these men served as surveyors, mathematicians, draughtsmen and engravers.
This chapter explores their story: how they were recruited and trained, how they lived and worked among the Irish people, and how the Survey brought opportunities for advancement and adventure alongside considerable hardship. It traces the careers of men whose talents earned them distinction, including those whose work carried them far beyond Ireland as military surveying became an increasingly important instrument of British imperial ambition.
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