Charles Whybrow Ligar (1811–1881) was an

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

surveyor, Surveyor General of New Zealand and

Surveyor General of Victoria The Surveyor General of Victoria is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populat ...

(then a colony, now a state of Australia).

Early life

Charles Ligar was born on 24 July 1811 in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where his father was stationed. From the age of 13 years he was educated at the Royal Military College (1825–1828).

Career

Reputedly commissioned in the

Corps of Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

, Ligar is said to have resigned shortly afterwards to join

. He was employed as a civil assistant on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland until 1840. In 1839 he married Grace Hanyngton, daughter of Thomas Hanyngton of Dungannon,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

, and grand niece of the Earl of Charlemont. In London, on 16 February 1841, the Queen was pleased to appoint Ligar to be Surveyor General of the Colony of New Zealand. Together with the survey staff Lord John Russell had commissioned Captain

Robert Kearsley Dawson Colonel Robert Kearsley Dawson (1798 – 1861) was an English surveyor and cartographer of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Early life Robert K. Dawson was born in 1798 in Dover. His father was Robert Dawson, a surveyor. He studied at the Royal ...

, RE, to select, Ligar and family departed Gravesend on 16 April and Plymouth on 14 May 1841, on the ''Prince Rupert'', for New Zealand.

New Zealand

After being shipwrecked at the Cape of Good Hope on 4 September, the Ligars and survey staff finally arrived at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, on board the ''Antilla'', on 8 December. A meeting had been held as early as mid-July 1841 to establish the Auckland Mechanics' Institute. On 5 September 1842 the Institute elected Ligar as vice-president. His former superior in Ireland, now Commanding Royal Engineer, New Zealand, Lieutenant George Augustus Bennett, RE, was elected president, and Acting Governor

Willoughby Shortland Commander Willoughby Shortland RN (30 September 1804 – 7 October 1869) was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He was New Zealand's first Colonial Secretary from 1841, after having arrived in New Zealand with Lieutenant Gover ...

, RN, took on the role of patron on 22 September. Ligar was also appointed land titles commissioner in the late 1840s. He purchased a vast quantity of land from the Maoris for the European settlers. Following the Battle of Kororareka on 11 March 1845 and the passing of the Militia Bill in Auckland on 25 March, Ligar was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the Auckland Battalion of Militia, second in command to the Governor,

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

, as Colonel. Construction of an ambitious fieldwork for two militia companies, called Fort Ligar, commenced on private land on the town's western high ground as part of Auckland's immediate defence. However, the arrival of 200 men of the 58th Regiment, and FitzRoy's proclamation of 26 April commencing military operations in the north, brought an end to it only weeks after work began. During the war Ligar was engaged in producing a military map of the field in the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for it ...

. Ligar resigned as Surveyor General in 1856, and went to Otago, unsuccessfully seeking to become the provincial surveyor. He discovered gold in the

Mataura River The Mataura River is in the Southland Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is long. Description The river's headwaters are located in the Eyre Mountains to the south of Lake Wakatipu. From there it flows southeast towards Gore, whe ...

while searching for grazing land.

Australia

Ligar was appointed Surveyor General of Victoria in 1858 (replacing

Clement Hodgkinson Clement Hodgkinson (1818 – 5 September 1893) was a notable English naturalist, explorer and surveyor of Australia. He was Victorian Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey from 1861 to 1874. Exploration in New South Wales Qualified ...

), promising to reduce survey costs and open the land for settlers. Ligar initially proposed to replace all government surveyors with contractors, a move that was not popular. At this time though, one great saving was achieved through the development and implementation of photolithographic duplication of plans, a process developed "in-house" by

John Walter Osborne John Walter Osborne (20 February 1828 – 20 November 1902) was a chemist and engineer born in Ireland, who migrated to Victoria, Australia and in Melbourne pioneered the art of photo-lithography. History Osborne was born in Ireland, and recei ...

. By 1869, leading politicians were demanding his removal and Ligar resigned in September. His replacement as Surveyor General was Alexander John Skene. In 1869 Ligar married Marie, daughter of the late Captain Williams, of Auckland, New Zealand.

Late life

Ligar retired initially to Europe, lived for some time in Germany, Morocco, Algeria and Spain, then took up ranching in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, USA. He died there in February 1881 and was buried at Willow Springs,

Parker County, Texas Parker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 148,222. The county seat is Weatherford. The county was created in 1855 and organized the following year. It is named for Isaac Parker, a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ligar, Charles Whybrow 1811 births 1881 deaths Sri Lankan people of British descent Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst English surveyors Ordnance Survey New Zealand surveyors 19th-century New Zealand public servants Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853) Surveyors General of Victoria Australian surveyors 19th-century Australian public servants Australian people of Sri Lankan descent New Zealand people of Sri Lankan descent