John Arrowsmith

Who was John Arrowsmith?

John Arrowsmith was an English geographer and member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He was born at Winston, County Durham.

In 1810 he joined his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith in his mapmaking business in London. In 1821, they published a map of North America using a combination of a maps obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company and Aaron's own previous work. After his uncle died in 1823, the business was carried on by his sons Aaron and Samuel Arrowsmith until 1839 when John Arrowsmith took over the business. In 1834 John published his London Atlas, which were the best set of such maps then in existence. He followed the atlas with a long series of elaborate and carefully executed maps, those of Australia, America, Africa and India being especially valuable. In 1863 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, of which body he was one of the founders.

His maps were very numerous, and their neatness and finished style gained John a very extensive reputation. Arrowsmith was also a most industrious collector of materials.

Mount Arrowsmith, situated east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is named for John Arrowsmith and his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith. The Arrowsmith River in Western Australia was named by Sir George Grey after Arrowsmith, who later produced the maps for the published journals of Grey's two Western Australian expeditions.