This evening Paul Borrow-Longain attended an informative webinar hosted by The Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras entitled Wellington’s Surveyors and Map Makers in the Peninsular, delivered by Dr John Peaty.
Dr John Peaty is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Geographical Society. He holds a PhD and MA in War Studies from King’s College London. He is the International Secretary of the British Commission for Military History, the Chair of the Templer Sub-Committee of The Society for Army Historical Research, a Founder Member of the Royal Air Force Historical Society, a Life Member of the Institute of Historical Research, a member of the Royal United Services Institute and the Convenor of the Historical Military Mapping Group of the British Cartographic Society.
He has published articles, chapters and essays and lectured widely on military history to both specialist and non-specialist audiences, both in the UK and overseas. He is an inveterate battlefield tourer. He works for the Ministry of Defence, where formerly he was with the Army Historical Branch. He was closely involved in the British Army’s commemoration of the First World War.
Given my interest in military history and the science of map making, the talk was extremely engaging and highlighted how General The Duke of Wellington had access to very little topographical information at the start of the campaign, and therefore the importance of this work.
