Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Rideau Canal Planning collection
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Collection
Repository
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1831 (Creation)
- Creator
- Burrowes, Thomas
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1831 (Creation)
- Creator
- By, John
Physical description area
Physical description
3 maps, 3 technical drawings, 2 p., 10 photographs : b&w
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Numbering within publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in 1796 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England, Thomas Burrowes served as a Corporal in the Royal Sappers and Miners from 1813 until 1824, the last nine years of his enlistment being in Canada. Following a short stay in England Burrowes returned to Canada with his family in 1826, and secured a position as Overseer of Works on the Rideau Canal construction project. Thomas Burrowes worked with John Burrows, a fellow Overseer of Works, who claimed that he trained Thomas Burrowes in the skills of surveying, preparing Thomas for his registration as a Provincial Surveyor. Later promoted to Clerk of Works of the southern section of the Rideau Canal, Burrowes continued in this service until 1846. Based at Kingston Mills during these years, he chose to retire there at the end of his service, taking up the roles of farmer, postmaster and Justice of the Peace in the local community. During these years, Burrowes lived in his cottage"Maplehurst" overlooking the Rideau waterway and Kingston. Burrowes died in 1866 and was buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lieutenant-Colonel John By (7 August 1779 – 1 February 1836) was an English military engineer, best remembered for supervising the construction of the Rideau Canal and founding Bytown in the process, which would become the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
By was born in Lambeth, Surrey, the second of three sons of George By, of the London Customs House, and Mary Bryan. By studied at the Royal Military Academy. He entered Officer Training in the army when he was 18 years old. He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery on 1 August 1799 but transferred to the Royal Engineers on 20 December the same year. During the Napoleonic wars he returned to Europe, where he served in Spain under the Duke of Wellington from 1811 until 1815.
By was married three times, first to Elizabeth Baines in 1801, who died in 1814. He remarried in 1818 to Esther March with whom he had two daughters: Harriet Martha By (1822–1842) and Esther By Ashburnham (1820–1848).
With the end of the war, By retired from the military, but in 1826 in view of his engineering experience in Canada, he was recalled and returned to Canada to supervise the construction of the Rideau Canal.
The canal was completed in six years, and was acclaimed as an engineering triumph. He died in 1836, and is buried in the village of Frant in Sussex.
Custodial history
Purchased by an alum from the Old Author's Shop in Morrisburg, Ontario for the Douglas Library sometime before 1942.
Scope and content
Collection consists of: Plan of the Works at Kingston Mills – 22 Jan. 1831; Survey of Brewers Upper Mill and Round Tail being the first plan of the series of the Survey of the Cataraqui Creek – 22 Jan. 1831; the Woodwork of the Face Sluices Jones Falls & Kingston Mills; Plan of Section of Waste (water?) Gate, Brewers Mills; Plan of Section of Face Sluices Jones Falls & Kingston Mills; Report of the State of the Works at Brewers Upper Mills; Report of the State of the Works at Kingston Mills; and, Plan showing the waters through which the Route of the Rideau Canal will pass. Also includes photographic copies from drawings held at the Archives of Ontario.
All maps signed by Colonel John By, one map signed by Burrowes (though likely responsible for all drawings).
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Transfer from Special Collections
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
R202
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Public domain