A very rare Schmalcalder-type prismatic compass, made by Henry Barrow in London c.1845. The compass card is signed 'Henry Barrow & Co, 26 Oxendon Street, London'. The brass case has the name 'T. G. Montgomerie' engraved on the base.
Henry Barrow (1790-1870), was one of the finest instrument makers of the mid-19th century, and in 1856 Captain T. G. Montgomerie (1830-1878) surveyed and named K2, the second highest mountain in the world. The compass would have been acquired by Montgomerie sometime between 1845 (when he entered the East India Company military academy) and his departure for India in 1851. Henry Barrow supplied many of the instruments used by officers of the East India Company and the Great Survey of India. It is highly likely that T. G. Montgomerie would have used this compass during the pioneering surveys of Kashmir, the Karakoram, and the Himalayas in the 1850's and 1860's.
The compass is a fine example of the work of one of the best maker's of the period. With a hand-drawn green compass card and silvered index ring, jewelled pivot, brass case and lid, prism and vane sights, transit lock, and manual brake. The transit lock mechanism is operated by a rotating lever on the side of the case, and the manual card brake is operated by a push-button below the sights. There is a folding prism (with red and green coloured filters) on one side of the case and a folding sighting vane complete with adjustable mirror on the opposite side. The compass comes complete with its original fitted leather case.
Other compasses and scientific instruments made by Henry Barrow can be seen in the collection of the Royal Museums at Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-7185 and in the collection of the sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
Thomas George Montgomerie (1830-1878): was one of the most important figures in the history of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, and is best known today as the man who named K2, the second highest mountain in the world, in September 1856. T. G. Montgomerie was born in Ayr on the 23rd of April 1830. His father, William Eglinton Montgomerie of Annick Lodge, was a nephew of the twelfth Earl of Eglinton, Provost of Irvine, and served as a Colonel in the Ayrshire Yeomanry.
T. G. Montgomerie joined the East India Company's Military Academy at Addiscombe, Surrey In 1845, aged 15. Montgomerie was a brilliant student, graduating in 1849 at the head of his class, he was awarded the Pollock Medal for the most distinguished cadet. He then joined the Bengal Engineers, arriving in India in June 1851. After a tour of duty with the Fifth Company of Sappers and Miners working on the Hindustan-Tibet road, he joined the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India under Sir Andrew Waugh. In 1855 Montgomerie was put in charge of the survey of Kashmir. He spent the next decade working on the topographical survey of Kashmir, including the Tibetan regions of Ladak and Balti, covering an area of over 70,000 square miles, and including many of the highest mountains in the world. During the course of the survey, Montgomerie often worked at high altitude, with observation stations situated at anything from 15,000 to 20,000ft. Montgomerie was noted for both the excellence of his methods and administration and his good relations with his staff and local digntaries.
It was during the Kashmir Survey that Montgomerie named K2, the second highest mountain in the world. On 10th of September 1856 Montgomerie sketched the two most prominent peaks of the Karakoram mountain range, visible from the survey station at Haramukh, near Srinagar. These he labelled 'K1' and 'K2' - for Karakoram 1 and Karakoram 2. The Great Trigonometrical Survey used the local names for mountains wherever possible, and K1 later became known by its local name, Masherbrum, but no reliable name could be found for the peak Montgomerie named K2. The lack of a widely used local name was probably due to K2's remoteness. The mountain is not visible from nearby habitations and is only fleetingly glimpsed from the end of the Baltoro Glacier, one of the longest glaciers in the world. And so Montgomerie's initial designation - K2 - remains to this day the mountain's universally recognised name. At the time of his survey of the mountain Montgomerie produced a sketch of his view of K1 and K2, although In this sketch K2 appears smaller than K1 due to it being the more distant peak. Montgomerie later presented this sketch to the Royal Geographical Society, as described in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1866): 'Captain Montgomerie exhibited a large and characteristic sketch of the Mashabrum Peak, the most conspicuous mountain in the Mustakh and Karakorum range. . . . Behind the Mashabrum peak lies the peak K2, which rises to 28,257 feet above the sea, being the highest in the range and the second highest in the world. K2 is surrounded on all sides by very lofty peaks, and is consequently never seen to great advantage'.
The Kashmir Survey was completed in 1864, and in 1865 Montgomerie was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society 'for his great trigonometrical journey from the plains of the Punjab to the Karakorum Range'. In 1864 Montgomerie was posted to the headquarters of the Great Trigonometrical Survey at Dehra Dun where he took charge of the clandestine survey of Tibet. But by February 1865 Montgomerie was in such poor health after thirteen arduous years of survey work that he was forced to return to England. In 1867 he returned to India where he was made deputy superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey and put in charge of the Himalayan survey in Kumaon and Gurhwal. During the next two years he organised four more clandestine expeditions into Tibet. From 1870-1873 Montgomerie officiated as Superintendant of the Great Trigonometrical Survey during the absence of Colonel Walker. But in 1873 Montgomerie was again forced to return to England due to ill health and he never went back to India. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1874 and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1876. He died at Bath on 31st of January 1878, aged 47.
(For more information on T. G. Montgomerie see the article by John Loney at https://irvinehistorynotes.yolasite.com/thomas-george-montgomerie.php)
Henry Barrow (1790-1870): was one of the finest British scientific instrument makers of his time. He may have been apprenticed to George Dollond or Edward Troughton, as he is known to have worked for both of them before 1829. From 1830-1839 he was Mathematical Instrument Maker to the Surveyor of India, working very closely with Sir George Everest, maintaining the complex scientific instruments that were vital to the work of the Great Survey of India. After returning to England, Barrow took over the business of Thomas Charles Robinson at Devonshire Street, London from 1842. From 1845 - c.1860 he traded as H. Barrow & Co. from premises at 26 Oxendon Street, London. He is known to have produced compasses, theodolites, and other scientific instruments during this period, supplying them to both the East India Company and the Great Survey of India. He also made compasses for the Admiralty, some of which were used in Arctic expeditions during the 1840s. During his time with The Great Survey, Sir George Everest had praised Barrow's work on the Cary Great Theodolite: 'I must do the artist (Barrow) the justice to say that for excellence of workmanship, accuracy of division, steadiness, regularity, and glibness of motion, and the general elegance and nice fitting of all its parts, not only were my expectations exceeded but I really think it is as a whole as unrivalled in the world as it is unique.' Henry Barrow was made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849, and retired around 1860. His long career had made him a wealthy man, and he left an estate valued at more than £65,000.
(For further information on Henry Barrow see Making Mountains out of Molehills - George Everest and Henry Barrow 1830-39 by Jane Insley, Indian Journal of History and Science, 1995)
Condition:
In very good condition, and full working order. The compass finds North well. The glass, sighting vane, filters, and prism are all in very good condition. The compass card is in very good condition. There is some wear and marking to the finish of the brass case and the frame of the folding sight. One small brass screw is missing from the sighting vane mount. The brass case has the inscription 'T. G. Montgomerie' engraved on the base. The original fitted leather case is in very good condition.
Dimensions: 75mm diameter, height 25mm
Leather case: 110mm x 85mm x 40mm
