Edward McGeachy

Edward McGeachy (died c. 1851) was the Crown Surveyor for the county of Surrey in Jamaica. He trained Thomas Harrison, the first Government Surveyor of Jamaica. He owned Bull Park plantation and Brighton Pen in Saint David Parish and in 1837 received compensation for the loss of eight slaves following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

Early life and family McGeachy's place and date of birth are unknown, but he described himself as a "colonist" of Jamaica and as having learned surveying "at school". He served a five-year apprenticeship with Francis Ramsay. indicating a family connection to the Alleynes of Barbados.

Career After the completion of his apprenticeship, McGeachy was in partnership with Francis Ramsay before working on his own from 1824. He was with McGeachy, Dadley & Smith from 1826 to 1828 in partnership with former apprentices, and McGeachy & Smith by 1830. He was a sole trader from 1836 to 1843 and in partnership as McGeachy and Griffiths from 1843 to 1851. By 1842, McGeachy had trained 15-20 apprentices, He proposed a "perfect" map of Jamaica, travelled to England in 1831 to promote it, obtained the agreement of a dedication from the King, and returned in January 1832. It was never completed, however, after the House of Assembly of Jamaica refused financial support due to a downturn in the plantation economy with the abolition of slavery looming. and Brighton Pen in Saint David Parish, now in Saint Thomas, and in 1837 received compensation for the loss of eight slaves following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

He completed historically valuable surveys across Jamaica, commenting, as did other surveyors, on the difficulty of the work, saying that "no one on the island has been more exposed to heat, and cold and wet, than I have", and noting that boundaries in Jamaica were:

little settled, as compared to other countries, boundings not walled or fenced in, and the mountainous nature of the country, rendering it almost impossible in many cases to do so. Lines become lost, and it requires a great deal of practice in the mode of discovering them, through the aid of old surveys and surveying papers...

Selected publications Irrigation in the West Indies, Being a Simple Plan by which they may be Perpetuated as Valuable and Productive Sugar Colonies. De Cordova, Kingston, 1846. Suggestions towards a General Plan of Rapid Communication by Steam Navigation and Railways: shortening the Time of Transit between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1846.