John Arrowsmith was a British cartographer famous for his maps of the world. Many
explorers used Arrowsmith's maps to improve their own. In one correspondence to
Pakington,
Douglas refers to the inaccuracy of Arrowsmith's map of
Vancouver Island, and in a later correspondence to
Newcastle he includes
Arrowsmiths improved map of Vancouver's Island.
Mount Arrowsmith on
Vancouver Island is named after John and his uncle, Aaron Arrowsmith.
Arrowsmith was born in 1790 in Durham, England. He travelled to
London in 1810 to learn map-making from his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith, and in 1821 they published
a map of North America together. In 1830, he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society, and, in 1863, he received the society's gold medal. Arrowsmith retired in 1861, and died twelve years later on May 2, 1873.