Alexander Keith Johnston (1804–1871)
Alexander Keith Johnston LLD (28 December 1804 – 9 July 1871) was a Scottish geographer.
Biography
He was born at Kirkhill near Penicuik, south of Edinburgh. He was the son of Andrew Johnston and Isabel Keith. His brother was Thomas Brumby Johnston.[1]
After an education at the High School and the University of Edinburgh he was apprenticed to the Edinburgh engraver and mapmaker, James Kirkwood. In 1826, he joined his brother William (who would become Sir William Johnston, Lord Provost of Edinburgh) in a printing and engraving business, forming the well-known cartographical firm of W. and A. K. Johnston.[2] The rest of Johnston's life was devoted to geography, his later years to its educational aspects especially. His services were recognised by the leading scientific societies of Europe and America.
He married Margaret Gray in 1837.
In October 1849, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1862 he was a founding member of the Meteorological Society of Scotland.
He died at Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire, in 1871.[2] He is buried in the north-west section of Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh.
Works
His interest in geography had developed early, and his first important work was the National Atlas of General Geography, which gained for him in 1843 the appointment of Geographer Royal for Scotland. Johnston was the first to bring the study of physical geography into competent notice in England. His attention had been called to the subject by Alexander von Humboldt; and after years of labour he published his magnificent Physical Atlas in 1848, followed by a second and enlarged edition in 1856. This, by means of maps with descriptive letterpress, illustrates the geology, hydrography, meteorology, botany, zoology, and ethnology of the globe.
Johnston published a Dictionary of Geography in 1850, with many later editions; The Royal Atlas of Modern Geography, begun in 1855; an atlas of military geography to accompany Alison's History of Europe in 1848 seq.; and a variety of other atlases and maps for educational or scientific purposes.[2] A book on astronomy named "School Atlas of Astronomy" (published 1856) was written by him.
Family
His son Alexander Keith Johnston (1844-1879) was also the author of various geographical works and papers; in 1873-1875 he was geographer to a commission for the survey of Paraguay; and he died in Behobeho in South Africa while leading the Royal Geographical Society's expedition to Lake Nyasa.[2] He is remembered on his father's gravestone.
References
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Johnston, Alexander Keith". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Keith Johnston (1804–1871). |
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Alexander Keith Johnston |
- DavidRumsey.com has high resolution digital versions of A.K. Johnston's 1856 Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena and 1861 Royal Atlas of Modern Geography.
- Works by and about Alexander Keith Johnston in the Berlin State Library.
- Johnston's 1855 Atlas of Astronomy, edited by John Russell Hind - Full digital facsimile, Linda Hall Library.