India Quartermaster General Office (1803 - 1947), a major branch of the QMG, was the division of the British Indian Army responsible for logistics and mapping. Among other duties, the QMG employed detachments of military engineers to conduct and compile surveys of conflict theaters. The QMG was based in Calcutta, but established several annex branches, in Simla (Himachal Pradesh, India), Colombo, and elsewhere. Master cartographers, surveyors, and draftsmen under the QMG traveled throughout British India and the adjacent regions, compiling detailed surveys in anticipation of trade, war, or both. Working in diverse and sometimes onerous conditions, they developed sophisticated cartographic conventions while at the same time adapting to local supplies and resources. Some, for example, have noted the QMG maps often have resplendent bright color - these are palettes adapted from Indian handmade watercolors traditionally used in the Bengali textile industry. These attractive colors were later adapted into the general British cartographic palette. Few QMG maps were ever published, most surviving only in manuscript, in institutional archives like the British Library’s India Office Records. Moreover, despite their significance, no comprehensive survey of surviving of India QMG maps has been compiled, resulting in their being generally underappreciated and misunderstood. The QMG remained active in India until the British withdraw in 1947. More by this mapmaker...

Sir Frederick Abbott (January 8, 1851 - November 4, 1892) was a British engineer of the East India Company and an army officer. Born at Littlecourt, Herftordshire, Abbot attended Warfield before entering the Addiscombe Military Seminary in 1820. He graduated in 1822 and received a commission in India with the Bengal Engineers in 1823. He fought in the first Anglo-Burmese War (1824 - 1826) and distinguished himself at the Battle of Prome in 1825. After returning from Burma he was assigned to Public Works and was promoted to captain in 1832. He married his wife Frances Cox in 1835 and returned to England on leave from 1838 - 1840. Upon his return to India in 1841, Abbott was made the Superintending Engineer of the North West Provinces, where he was responsible for the canals, military works, and all other Public Works of the province. He was soon ensnared by the First Anglo-Afghan War, which had been raging since 1839, and was appointed Chief Engineer for an army being sent to rescue the British garrison at Jalalabad. This force, after arrived at Jalalabad only to find the siege raised, then became part of the punitive Kabul Expedition, which they reached Kabul after a series of fierce battles and occupied it. Two atrocities precipitated the Expedition. The first was the massacre of 16,000 British soldiers and civilians retreating from Kabul supposedly granted safe passage by Akbar Khan, and the second was the murder of Sir William MacNaghten, a British envoy in Kabul, by Akbar Khan, and the mutilation of his body a mob in the Kabul bazaar. As retribution, the decision was made to destroy the bazaar and its beautifully constructed mosque, and Abbott was ordered to carry out this task, an action he regretted for the rest of his life. He then returned to India, where he resumed his post as Superintending Engineer. Four years later he was again called to war and fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Sobraon, where he constructed a bridge across the Sutlej River, for which he was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He retired from the army on October 1, 1847 at the age of forty-two. Three years later he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Addiscombe Military Seminary, a post he held until the academy was closed in June 1861. After its closure, Abbott held positions on numerous government boards, and was made and Honorary Major-General in 1858. Abbott suffered a stroke on February 7, 1890 and a second on April 15. He never fully recovered from these and died on November 4, 1892. He was preceded in death by both his wife and his daughter, as well as his grandson, who died after being bitten by a rabid dog in India. Learn More...