William Driscoll Gosset Explained

W. D. Gosset
Order:6th
Office:Surveyor General of Ceylon
Term Start:1855
Term End:1858
Predecessor:W. H. Simms
Successor:Charles Sims
Birth Date:13 April 1822
Birth Place:Charleville, Ireland[1]
Death Date:19 May 1899 (aged 77)[2]
Death Place:Kensington, London, England

Major-General William Driscoll Gosset FRSE (13 April 1822 – 19 May 1899), also Gossett, was a British Army officer serving in the Royal Engineers.[3] [4] A skilled engineer and surveyor, he did much work on the original British Ordnance Survey.

Early life

He was born in Charleville, County Cork into a prominent Anglo-Irish family of Huguenot descent, the second son of Major John Noah Gossett (1793–1870) of the Rifle Brigade[5] and his wife, Maria Margaret Driscoll (1796-1883).[6]

He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1840 and was deeply involved in the survey work in Britain 1840 to 1850. He was promoted captain in 1850.[7]

He was for his mapping work elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1850, subsequent to his proposal by Charles Piazzi Smyth.[8]

Ceylon

In 1855 Gossett was made 6th Surveyor General of Ceylon, succeeding W. H. Simms in this role, and holding the office until 1858. He was succeeded by Charles Sims.[9] He was active in recruiting assistants, interviewing in London; but failed to spot embezzlement by the survey's head clerk.[10]

British Columbia

Gosset then served as Colonial Treasurer of British Columbia, arriving in November 1858.[11] He clashed seriously with James Douglas, from 1860.[12] He also uncovered book-keeping issues, and recommended the dismissal of Alexander Caulfield Anderson.[13]

In the aftermath of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, coin was short in British Columbia. In 1861 Douglas sent Gosset, or the assayer Francis George Claudet, to San Francisco, for equipment to set up a local mint in New Westminster; in 1862 Gosset operated the mint.[14] [15] Gosset was replaced as Treasurer in 1862.[11]

In 1873, he returned to Britain to take a more sedate role in a Science and Art Department in London. He retired in 1894.

He died on 19 May 1899 at 70 Edith Road in West Kensington in London.[16]

Family

In 1852, Gosset at Eton, Berkshire married his cousin, Helena Dorothea Gosset (b. 1830),[6] who was the daughter of Isaac Gosset (1782 – 1855) and the granddaughter of James Lind of Windsor.[17] [18] They had one son Ernest A. Gossett.[19]

Notes and References

  1. UK, Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900
  2. News: Deaths . 10 February 2024 . Army and Navy Gazette . 27 May 1899 . 10 . subscription.
  3. Book: J. F. Bosher. Imperial Vancouver Island: Who Was Who, 1850-1950. April 2010. Xlibris Corporation. 978-1-4500-5963-3. 304.
  4. Book: A History of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, with an account of the other banks which now form part of its organization. Ross. Victor. Trigge. Arthur St. L.. 1920. Internet Archive. Oxford University Press. 463. I. 9 April 2016. Toronto.
  5. Book: Thom, Adam. The Upper Ten Thousand: A Biographical Handbook of All the Titled and .... 1875. Internet Archive. George Routledge & Sons. 188. 9 April 2016.
  6. Web site: William Driscoll Gosset - theislandwiki.
  7. Book: Bulletins and Other State Intelligence. 1851. Compiled and arranged from the official documents published in the London Gazette. 526.
  8. Book: Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 0-902-198-84-X.
  9. Web site: History. Survey Department of Sri Lanka. 14 April 2014.
  10. Ian Jeffrey Barrow, Surveying in Ceylon during the Nineteenth Century, Imago Mundi Vol. 55 (2003), pp. 81–96, at p. 91. Published by: Imago Mundi, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3594757
  11. Book: Allan Pritchard. The Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney: 1862-65. 1 November 2011. UBC Press. 978-0-7748-4257-0. 54–5 note 20.
  12. Book: John Adams. Old Square-Toes and His Lady: The Life of James and Amelia Douglas. 2011. TouchWood Editions. 978-1-926971-71-1. 133.
  13. Book: Nancy Marguerite Anderson. The Pathfinder: A.C. Anderson's Journeys in the West. 2011. Heritage House Publishing Co. 978-1-926936-82-6. 179.
  14. Book: T. M. Scotty Gardiner. In the Mind of a Mountie. 2010. Agio Publishing House. 978-1-897435-37-3. 261.
  15. Web site: www.royalengineers.ca, The Gosset Gold Coin Affair. 9 April 2016.
  16. Book: Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 0-902-198-84-X.
  17. Book: Sir Bernard Burke. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. 1871. Harrison. 525.
  18. Book: Gordon Willoughby J. Gyll. History of the parish of Wraysbury, Ankerwycke priory, and Magna charta island [&c.].. 1862. 230.
  19. Web site: William Driscoll Gosset 1822-1899 - Ancestry®. 2021-11-01. www.ancestry.co.uk. en-US.

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