Robert Hyde Colebrooke (1762? - 21 September 1808) was a British infantry officer in India who conducted early surveys in Bengal and Mysore before becoming Surveyor General of Bengal, a position he held from 1788 to 1794 succeeding Alexander Kyd.

Life and work

It is thought that Colebrooke was born in Switzerland. His father

Robert Colebrooke Robert Colebrooke (24 June 1718 –10 May 1784) was a British Member of Parliament.Cokayne, George Edward. (Ed.) (1906''Complete baronetage. Vol. V. 1707-1800'' Exeter: William Pollard. p. 116. Early life Robert Colebrooke was the first son of J ...

(1718 - 1784) was the British ambassador to the Swiss confederacy from 1762 to 1764 and his mother was Mary (née Williams). The father had to sell his property of Chilham Castle in 1774 to pay his creditors. Colebrooke joined the Bengal Infantry in 1778. T.D. Pearse trained and appointed him as Surveyor in 1783. Colebrooke surveyed the distance from Hooghly to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

using a perambulator. Trained in topographical illustration and surveying he produced "''Twelve views of places in the kingdom of Mysore''" in 1794 based on his work in Mysore in 1790. He accompanied

Archibald Blair Archibald Blair (1752–1815) was a naval surveyor and lieutenant in the Bombay Marine. He joined the Bombay Marine, received his first commission in 1771 and in 1792 was promoted captain. In 1772, as a midshipman, he went on his first survey missi ...

to survey the Andaman Islands in 1789. Colebrooke Island and Passage were named after him. Colebrooke compiled a vocabulary of Andaman islanders in an article to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He also described the volcanic Barren Island. After Alexander Kyd was moved to the Andamans as Superintendent of the settlement, the position of Surveyor General of Bengal became vacant and Colebrooke was appointed in 1794. He remained in this position he kept until his death from dysentery in 1808 on the way from Rohillakhand to Calcutta at

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Silk ...

. Colebrooke was a cousin of the orientalist

H.T. Colebrooke Henry Thomas Colebrooke FRS FRSE (15 June 1765 – 10 March 1837) was an English orientalist and mathematician. He has been described as "the first great Sanskrit scholar in Europe". Biography Henry Thomas Colebrooke was born on 15 June ...

. He was promoted to Lieutenant in November 1778, Lt-Colonel in November 1803. Colebrooke took a special interest in the changing course of the Ganges river. One of Colebrooke's suggestions, made in 1795, was that by cutting a 20 foot wide and 15–20 foot deep canal between the Hurdum and Ichamati to connect the

Churni River River Churni is a stream in the Nadia district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a distributary of the Mathabhanga River, itself a distributary of the Padma River at Munshiganj in the Kushtia District of Bangladesh. The Mathabanga divide ...

and the Ganges would make the river navigable for 155 miles and avoid the route through the Sunderbans. The idea was opposed by

James Rennell Major James Rennell, (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography. Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of Ind ...

who said: A keen astronomer, Colebrooke also corresponded with

John Goldingham John Goldingham FRS (1767 - July 1849) was the first official astronomer of the Madras Observatory, appointed in 1802. Goldingham was also an architect and surveyor who headed the Madras Survey School which later grew into the Guindy Engineering ...

at the

Madras Observatory The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by William Petrie in 1786 and later moved and managed by the British East India Company from 1792 in Madras (now known as Chennai). The ...

to establish the latitude of Calcutta. He was succeeded as Surveyor General by John Garstin.

Personal life

Colebrooke married Charlotte Bristowe (died at Bath 2 July 1833) in Calcutta on 31 July 1795 and they had three daughters and two sons (both named Richard, one of whom born 30 December 1800 became an ensign in the Bengal infantry and died on 23 February 1868). As was common in the period, he also had illegitimate children from Indian mistresses. Colebrooke's brother James (1772-18 January 1816) worked in the Madras Infantry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrooke, Robert Hyde 1808 deaths Robert Hyde Surveyors Year of birth uncertain