thumb|A plaque in Castlegate in JedburghJohn Ainslie (22 April 1745 – 29 February 1828)[1] was a Scottish surveyor and cartographer.
Ainslie was born in Jedburgh, the youngest son of John Ainslie, a druggist, Writer to the Signet and burgess of the burgh.[2] [3] He was educated at Jedburgh Grammar School.[4] He began his career as an apprentice to the "Geographer to King George III", engraver and publisher Thomas Jefferys and worked as a surveyor and engraver for the English County series of maps.[2] After Jefferys' death he returned to Scotland where he surveyed Scottish counties, engraving and publishing the maps. His primary focus was on the coasts and islands of Scotland.[5] The quality of his maps challenged others to improve their mapping style making maps more clear and easy to read.[6]
From 1787 to 1789 Ainslie worked on a new nine sheet map of Scotland publishing it in 1789.[7] The map was a landmark in the improvement of the outline of Scotland and for the first time showed the Great Glen as a straight line and Skye, Mull, and Islay shown with more accuracy than had previously been seen.[2]
He worked as a surveyor on several civil engineering projects including the Forth and Clyde canal with Robert Whitworth, Charles Rennie on Saltcoats harbour and the Glasgow to Ardrossan canal.[2]
John was also a book-seller, which helped him in writing and publishing works of his own.[5]
He wrote the standard text for his profession, the "Comprehensive treatise on Land Surveying comprising the Theory and Practice of all its Branches".[1] [8]
On 27 October 1776 he married Christian, the daughter and heiress of Jedburgh merchant Thomas Caverhill. In Edinburgh in the 1780s they lived on Parliament Square on the Royal Mile.[9]
He died at 72 Nicolson Street[10] in Edinburgh on the 29 February 1828 and is buried at Jedburgh Abbey.[2]
Other sources suggest he was married to Mary Lookup and they had two children. No dates provided.[11]
Many of Ainslie's maps are in the collection of National Library of Scotland including: