Henry MacLauchlan

Henry MacLauchlan (26 April 1792 – 27 January 1882) was a British military, geological and archaeological surveyor. Born into a military family, MacLauchlan studied surveying whilst a cadet at the Tower of London with the Royal Corps of Military Surveyors and Draftsmen. He left the corps when it disbanded in 1817 and joined the Ordnance Survey a few years later. After leaving the army, MacLauchlan worked with geologist Henry De la Beche on a survey of Cornwall and for the Duke of Northumberland to survey archaeology in the north of England. MacLauchlan died in Clapham in 1882.

Early life and career MacLauchlan was born at the British Army base of Landguard Fort in Felixstowe, Suffolk, to Andrew MacLauchlan, a storekeeper for the Board of Ordnance, and his second wife, Martha Haywood. After his father's death in 1795, MacLauchlan moved in with his mother's family in Chichester, before becoming, around 1804, a cadet with the Royal Corps of Military Surveyors and Draftsmen at the Tower of London. He spent several years with the army as a draughtsman in Cork, Ireland before the corps disbanded in 1817 and he was retired on half pay. MacLauchlan worked with the Ordnance Survey from 1823 to 1824, making surveys in Gloucestershire, South Wales and Bedfordshire.