John Bartholomew

For other people named John Bartholomew, see John Bartholomew (disambiguation).

John Bartholomew Jr (25 December 1831 – 30 March 1893) was a Scottish cartographer.

John Bartholomew FRGS
Cartographer and engraver
Born	(1831-12-25)25 December 1831 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	29 March 1893(1893-03-29) (aged 61)

Bartholomew grave, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

Life

Bartholomew was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, John Bartholomew Sr, started the cartographical establishment in Edinburgh, and he was trained in the firm. He was subsequently assistant to the German geographer August Petermann, until 1856 when he took up the management of his father's company.^[1] For this establishment, Bartholomew built up a reputation unsurpassed in Great Britain for the production of the finest cartographical work.^[2]

He is best known for the commercial development of colour contouring (or hypsometric tints), the system of representing altitudes on a graduated colour scale, with areas of high altitude in shades of brown and areas of low altitude in shades of green. He first showcased his colour contouring system at the Paris Exhibition of 1878; although it was initially met with skepticism, it went on to become a standard cartographical practice.

Among his numerous publications, particularly worthy of note is the series of maps of Great Britain reduced from the Ordnance Survey to scales of half-inch and quarter-inch to 1 mile, with relief shown by contour lines and hypsometric tints. The half-inch series is among the finest of its kind ever produced.^[2]

Upon his retirement in 1888, John Bartholomew was succeeded in the firm by his son John George, who extended the half-inch series, and applied its principles to many other works. For the last six years of his life Bartholomew was living at 32 Royal Terrace in Edinburgh.^[3][4]

Bartholomew died in London on 30 March 1893.^[2] He is buried with his parents in Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh, in the northwest section. His wife Annie McGregor (1836–1872), whom he greatly outlived, is also buried there.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• John Bartholomew and Son Ltd.

References

1. Leslie Gardiner (1976). Bartholomew 150 Years. John Bartholomew & Son Ltd. ISBN 0-85152-791-4.
2. Chisholm 1911.
3. "Obituary of John Bartholomew - The Scotsman, April 1893" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
4. Mitchell , Anne (1993), "The People of Calton Hill", p. 83, Mercat Press, James Thin, Edinburgh, ISBN 1-873644-18-3

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bartholomew, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 450.

External links

• Bartholomew: A Scottish Family Heritage - site maintained by the family.
• Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases
• See an 1856 map by John Bartholomew Texas, part of New Mexico &c. / drawn & engraved by J. Bartholomew. hosted by the Portal to Texas History