John Mathieson was born in 1855. In 1909, he served as chief surveyor on the Scottish scientific expedition to Svalbard (leader William Speirs Bruce). The expedition was sponsored partly by Prince Albert of Monaco to continue the survey of Prins Karls Forland begun by Bruce, and partly by the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate, to examine the company's mineral claims there and in the Isfjorden region. Mathieson led the surveying party on Prins Karls Forland, and during the summer completed Bruce's survey, leaving only some details for later verification or amendment. Bruce's map of Forland, based on these surveys, was published in 1913. He died in 1945.
From the guide to the John Mathieson collection, 1913, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
