John Ainslie

John Ainslie (22 April 1745 – 29 February 1828) was a Scottish surveyor and cartographer.

Life Ainslie was born in Jedburgh, the youngest son of John Ainslie, a druggist, Writer to the Signet and burgess of the burgh. He was educated at Jedburgh Grammar School. He began his career as an apprentice to the "Geographer to King George III", engraver and publisher Thomas Jefferys and worked as a surveyor and engraver for the English County series of maps. The quality of his maps challenged others to improve their mapping style making maps more clear and easy to read.

From 1787 to 1789 Ainslie worked on a new nine sheet map of Scotland publishing it in 1789. The map was a landmark in the improvement of the outline of Scotland and for the first time showed the Great Glen as a straight line and Skye, Mull, and Islay shown with more accuracy than had previously been seen.

On 27 October 1776 he married Christian, the daughter and heiress of Jedburgh merchant Thomas Caverhill. In Edinburgh in the 1780s they lived on Parliament Square on the Royal Mile.

He died at 72 Nicolson Street in Edinburgh on the 29 February 1828 and is buried at Jedburgh Abbey.

Maps Many of Ainslie's maps are in the collection of National Library of Scotland including: The county of Fife published in 1775 Scotland, drawn from a series of angles and astronomical observations..., in 9 sheets, published in 1789 A plan of Jedburgh published in 1780 City of Edinburgh published in 1780 The Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith, 1804 Ainslie's Map of the Southern Part of Scotland published in 1821