Henry James Sir, H.E.

Timeline

1803	Born, Cornwall.
1825 – 1826	R.E. (Royal Engineers) 2nd Lieutenant 1826.
1827	Appointed to Ordnance Survey (geological work interested him).
1845	Appointed local Superintendent of Geological Survey of Ireland (on recommendation of Col. Colby).
1846	Resigned.
1846	Transferred to Admiralty, sent to Portsmouth as Superintendent of constructional works in dockyard. Promoted to Captain.
1847	Appointed Member of Commission for inquiring into application of iron in railway structures.
1848	Elected F.R.S.
1850	Returned to Ordnance Survey, divisional headquarters at Edinburgh.
1851	Appointed Associate Juror for naval architecture, ordnance etc – comprising class vii in Great Exhibition.
1853	Sent to Brussels on special service.
1854	Promoted to Brevet-Major.
1854	Director-General of Ordnance Survey.
1856	Arthur’s Seat observations to obtain mean S.G. of the earth.
1857	Appointed Director of topographical and statistical department of War Office (staff combined with Ordnance Survey and placed under James’s direction) – continued till severence of Ordnance Survey from War Department and transfer to Office of Works in 1870.
1857	Promoted to Colonel.
1858	Member of Committee appointed by Council of Geological Society to revise the Greenough Geological Map.
1860	Knighted. James’s principal work – photozincography. Introduced at Ordnance Survey office 1859. Attracted attention abroad.
1868	Major-General.
1874	Lieut. General.
1875	Resigned from Ordnance Survey.
1877	Died at Southampton 14th June.

1878	Duncan, P.M. Obituary - Sir Henry James, F.R.S. [In Anniversary Address.]. Proceedings of the Geological Society in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. v. 34 p.34-35. 1878

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