1777 Alexander Dalrymple ; General Roy 139 



of Revenue in Ireland, and elected into the Royal Society 

 in 1764. 



1777. The Annual General Meeting in 1777, held on July 

 3ist, was attended by twenty-one members, Sir John 

 Pringle, President, presiding. The Treasurer's financial state- 

 ment showed that the expenses incurred since the last 

 audit amounted to 6 6s. 7d., of which 4 i6s. 7d. were due 

 almost entirely to deficiencies of attendance. The Treasurer 

 reported the death of Sir James Porter and Dr. Matthew 

 Maty, and mentioned that Mr. Fauquier and Mr. Iremonger 

 had not attended for more than a year. As Dr. Maty was 

 an ex officio member, his death caused no vacancy in the 

 ordinary membership. The meeting declared that three 

 vacancies had arisen. These were filled up by ballot, when 

 the following candidates were elected : Alexander Dalrymple, 

 Sir William Musgrave, Bart., and Colonel William Roy. 



Alexander Dalrymple, son of Sir James Dalrymple, Bart., 

 of Hailes, began as a writer in the service of the East India 

 Company. When he had shown his cartographic skill by 

 constructing a chart of the northern part of the Bay of 

 Bengal, he was appointed by the Company to be its Hydro- 

 grapher. In 1795 he was made Hydrographer to the 

 Admiralty. He was elected into the Royal Society in 1771. 



Sir William Musgrave, Bart., was made F.R.S. in March 

 1774. 



Colonel (better known by his subsequent title of General) 

 William Roy had served under the Duke of Cumberland 

 in Scotland in 1746, and having shown remarkable powers 

 as a cartographer, was employed in the construction of a 

 military map of Scotland. After filling various military 

 appointments he was appointed Surveyor-General of the 

 Coasts, and Engineer of Military Surveys for Great Britain. 

 His promotion to be major-general took place in 1781 and 

 he was made Director and Lieutenant-Colonel of Royal 

 Engineers in 1783. For his work in connection with the 

 determination of the relative positions of the Observatories 

 of Paris and Greenwich, the Royal Society awarded its 

 Copley Medal to him in 1785. His great treatise on the 



