Anderson, Samuel

Samuel Anderson was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. Educated at St. Andrews University, the Military Academy in Edinburgh, and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, he was commissioned a lieutenant in 1858.

In September 1859 Anderson received orders to join the British North American Boundary Survey, then working with the Americans along the 49th parallel. A joint commission had been established, and in 1857 the Americans sent the first field team to the Pacific Northwest. The following summer the British team arrived, composed of army personnel, primarily from the Royal Engineers. Anderson served under Lt. Col. J. S. Hawkins as a surveyor. He stayed with the commission until it returned to England in 1862, but several years later, Anderson was sent back to Washington, D.C. to assist the Americans in drafting the final maps.

During the 1860s, Anderson participated in other British explorations abroad. He also served at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham establishing programs in telegraphy and photography. In 1872 he was raised to the rank of captain and in 1879 became a major.

In the 1870s, the British and Americans set out to complete the survey of the Canadian-American border. Anderson was again assigned to the mission, this time as chief astronomer. Although Capt. Cameron was appointed commissioner, Anderson actually commanded the survey team. He sailed to Quebec in the summer of 1872 and established a base camp at Pembina, Manitoba, now part of North Dakota. The survey worked west from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. In late 1874 and early 1875 Anderson spent time in Ottawa and Washington, D.C. working on the commission's final report.

On his return to England, Anderson married Louisa Dorothea Brown. He served as assistant inspector of the submarine defenses and in 1879 became British commissioner to survey the Servain border. Anderson died in 1881.

For additional biographical information, see Anderson's obituary (Box 2, folder 30) published in the November 1, 1881 issue of The Royal Engineers Journal .

From the guide to the Samuel Anderson papers, 1813-1881, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)