Colonel Hugh Milbourne Jackson (27 March 1858 - 9 January 1940) was a British military officer and

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, who served as the Surveyor-General of the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

from 1903 to 1905, and the first

Surveyor-General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

of the

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

, from 1908 to 1915. Hugh Milbourne Jackson was born 27 March 1858 in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

, the eldest of four children and only son of Robert Milbourne Jackson (1819-1883), a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, and Caroline Mary née Cattley (1824-1903). He was educated privately and at graduated from the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in January 1875. He then went onto study at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, and in June 1877 was commissioned as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

with the

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 ...

. Jackson served in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

from 1881 to 1883 and participated in the survey of India from 1883 to 1894. Returning to England he worked at the

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

from 1894 to 1899. In the latter year he was sent to South Africa to participate in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, serving as head of topography of the Field Intelligence Department. He was awarded two medals with six clasps and attained the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

. In addition to various reports on his work in 1906 he published a paper on "The Employment of Survey Sections in War" in the ''Royal Engineers Journal''. In 1902 Jackson served as acting president of the Natal Boundary Commission. In March 1903, he was appointed Surveyor-General of the Transvaal Colony, succeeding William Heathcoate Gilfillan. He started publication of the Transvaal degree sheets, on a scale of 1 nglishinch = 1000 Cape roods (1:148 752), the last of which appeared in 1909. These maps were partly based on the rough military maps he had compiled during the war. In March 1904 he attended a geodetic congress in Cape Town at which the further geodetic survey of South Africa was planned. The next year he issued a pamphlet, Memoranda for the use of the plane-table (Pretoria, 1905). He also served as a member of the first Legislative Council of the Transvaal Colony. In 1905 Jackson returned to the Ordnance Survey in England for a further three years before he was appointed as the first Surveyor-General of the

. He assumed the role on 25 September 1908 taking charge of the Federated Malay States Survey Department and on 1 January 1909 this was expanded to include the

Straits Settlement The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

Survey Departments of

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

and Singapore, as well as the Trigonometrical Survey Department. He remained the Surveyor-General until 1915. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he commanded a battalion of Royal Engineers in France and was awarded three medals. He retired from service on 7 March 1919.

Personal life

Jackson married Margaret Edith Maitland Courtney (1870-1943) on 5 December 1893 at St Jude's Church,

Egham Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna ...

. They had three children, a daughter and two sons: Cicely Milbourne (1896-1952); Edward Hugo (1900-1972); and Quentin Milbourne (1905-1943). He died at

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

on 9 January 1940, at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Hugh Milbourne 1858 births 1940 deaths People from Kingston upon Hull British people in British Malaya English surveyors British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Royal Engineers officers Transvaal Colony people Military personnel from Kingston upon Hull

Personal life

See also

References