page_title: Thomas Bernard Collinson
section_title: Surveying Hong Kong
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Bernard Collinson / Surveying Hong Kong
caption_attribution_description: English: The Victoria Harbour drawn by Thomas Bernard Collinson in 1845. Thomas Bernard Collinson was an English naval surveyor of the Royal Engineers. He carried out the earliest British surveys and also produced early detailed sketches of Hong Kong.
context_page_description: Major General Thomas Bernard Collinson was an English military engineer of the Corps of Royal Engineers who carried out the earliest British surveys of Hong Kong, and planned roads and other early military and civil engineering works in New Zealand. Immediately prior to retirement, he was architect to the Scottish Prison Commission.
context_section_description: Given the task of mapping Hong Kong, from 1843 to 1845, Collinson established 27 trigonometric stations around Hong Kong Island in order to produce the first set of scientifically surveyed maps of Hong Kong, the Ordnance Map of Hong Kong published by the Board of Ordnance in 1845. Collinson used the French contour mapping method of which he was an early proponent. Only one stone station marker now remains, revealed by a University of Hong Kong team on 3 October 2015, at Lei Yue Mun Park.
  Collinson made the first records of many place names, including prominent locations in today's Hong Kong: Shek O, Chai Wan, Shau Kei Wan, Quarry Bay, Tai Tam, Tin Wan, Wan Chai, and Pok Fu Lam. Cape Collinson, Mount Collinson, Collinson Street, Cape Collinson Road and Path, on Hong Kong Island, were all named in his honour. Collinson was rewarded by the engraving of his map at Ordnance Survey, Southampton, and with a compliment from the geographer John Arrowsmith that it was the most complete map he had ever seen. He also produced early detailed sketches of Hong Kong. His drawings were of such an admirable standard that Major Edward Aldrich, RE, illustrated his 21 July 1846 report on the erection of Ordnance buildings in Hong Kong with them.
caption: Sketch of Victoria Harbour during his time in Hong Kong, published in 1845[5]
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