James Sprent (1808 – 22 September 1863) was a

Surveyor General of Tasmania Surveyor General of Tasmania is a position originally created for the colony of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania from 1855 now a state of Australia). List of Surveyors General of Tasmania See also * Surveyor General of New South Wales * Surveyor Gener ...

, (then the colony of Van Diemen's Land, now a state of Australia).

Early life

Sprent was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England and was educated at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(M.A., 1825) and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

Career in Australia

In May 1830 Sprent arrived in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

(later renamed

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

). He opened a school for boys that year, offering classes in Latin, Mathematics and French. Two years later, he extended this offering to young ladies and adult after school hours.

Surveying Work

After he was refused a free land grant in 1833, Sprent was appointed temporary assistant surveyor, closed his academy and began work on a trigonometrical survey - inspired by the

Great Trigonometrical Survey The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project that aimed to survey the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was begun in 1802 by the British infantry officer William Lambton, under the auspices of the East India Company.Gil ...

of India. Sprent and Calder located and cleared 50 mountaintop stations across the east of the state, leaving markers visibile from a distance, before work was suspended due to budget cuts in 1837. He was subsequently appointed permanent assistant surveyor.

Completing the Trigonometrical Survey

In 1847 Sprent was appointed first-class assistant surveyor. That year lieutenant-governor

William Denison Sir William Thomas Denison (3 May 1804 – 19 January 1871) was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866. According to Percival Se ...

reestablished the trigonometrical survey, and Sprent and Calder continued surveying high points. Sprent began working in the previously unexplored

south west Tasmania South West Tasmania is a region in Tasmania that has evoked curiosity as to its resources over the duration of European presence on the island. The more recent is the consideration as a potential area of resources for development and its consid ...

, becoming the first European to view

Federation Peak Federation Peak is a Tasmanian mountain with a sharp spire-like shape, which marks the end of the Eastern Arthur Range in the Southwest National Park. The peak, approximately south-west from Hobart, was named after the Federation of Australia. ...

, which he dubbed "the Obelisk". In 1855 Sprent was appointed deputy Surveyor General, and the next year chief surveyor and acting Surveyor General, replacing Robert Power. At this time he had surveyed 206 high points which he considered necessary to calculate a detailed map. He retired from fieldwork and began to reside in Hobart. In early 1859 Sprent's health deteriorated, and he was replaced by

James Erskine Calder James Erskine Calder (8 June 1808 – 20 February 1882) was a Surveyor General of the Colony of Tasmania, now an Australian state. Early life James Calder was born in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, the ninth of eleven children of Alex ...

on the 1st of September 1859. A map based on his survey was published in the June of 1859.

Personal life

Sprent married Susannah Hassall Oakes at

St John's Cathedral, Parramatta St John's Cathedral is a heritage-listed, Anglican cathedral in Parramatta, City of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. St John's was given the status of provisional cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in 1969, and design ...

, NSW on the 2nd of March 1837. He died in 1863 shortly after his retirement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprent, James 1808 births 1863 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Surveyors General of Tasmania Australian surveyors English emigrants to Australia